Horrible things happen every day. And there is a legislative congressman or woman waiting to write a new law to claim victory come election time. Well thought policy changes often don’t come from horrible crimes that make for good headlines. But the fact is now law enforcement has text messaging to add the charges when bad things happen.
On February 4, a two-year-old passenger was injured in a collision on School Street SE, in Thurston County. The driver was 29-year-old Tanya M. Bowers, who was driving southbound, left the roadway and struck a parked car. The two year old was not properly restrained and sustained facial injuries. Bowers was not wearing a seat belt and was also injured.
A cell phone was located on the floor of the car, with a partially completed text message. Bowers admitted to texting while driving and will be charged with using a wireless device while driving, failure to use a child-restrained device, and failure to wear a seatbelt.
On March of 2010, the new texting while driving bill was signed into law, which prohibits both texting and using a cell phone without a hands free device. In the past, these were considered secondary offenses. Officers could not pull over a car solely based on the driver using a cell phone or texting. This is now considered a primary offense, which give the officer a right to pull over and ticket a driver because they are believed to be using a cell phone illegally.
Thus far, a ban on using a hand held cell phone while driving is in effect in 9 states Cellphone Laws, and a ban for texting while driving is in place in 30 states.