ROCHESTER - Months after a horrific highway crash killed five recent high school graduates, a state senator is proposing a ban on text messaging while driving in New York.
A bill sponsored by Sen. Jim Alesi would make sending or reading text messages while driving a crime punishable by a fine of up to $100. Using a hand-held cell phone while driving was outlawed in New York in 2001.
“It's more of an effort really to prevent serious accidents than it is to catch people and write them a ticket,” Alesi said in an interview Friday. “It will save lives.”
His suburban Rochester district witnessed an outpouring of emotion in late June when a 17-year-old driver's sport utility vehicle slammed into a tractor-trailer and burst into flames, killing her and four other women who had graduated just a few days earlier from Fairport High School.
A succession of calls and text messages on Bailey Goodman's cell phone, along with her inexperience at the wheel, were cited by police as possible factors in the nighttime crash on a winding, two-lane highway in the nearby Finger Lakes region.
While text messages were sent and received in the final minutes before the crash, investigators were unable to determine whether Goodman was the one using the phone.
The law proposed by Alesi, a Republican, would also require the state Department of Motor Vehicles to educate new drivers about the dangers of “driving while distracted.”
Co-sponsored by Susan John, a Democratic assemblywoman, it drew police backing. “Any and all bills ... to help highway safety will be supported by the State Police,” said Major Mark Koss.
Alesi said he'll push hard to get the bill taken up at a legislative session in Albany in mid-December. Even if a law is signed by year-end, it wouldn't take effect for six months, he said.
“The best good that would come from this would be a general awareness, especially among young drivers, that ... you take your eyes off the road for two seconds and it dramatically increases your chances of having a serious or fatal accident,” Alesi said.
In New York City last month, 23 percent of 3,120 drivers observed at 50 intersections were talking on the phone, with only half of them using hands-free devices, according to a Hunter College study.
Already this year, New Jersey and Washington state have passed laws to ban texting while driving.
Beginning next July, California drivers under age 18 will have to put down all cell phones and other electronic devices while driving. Older drivers will be able to use hands-free devices but minors won't enjoy that luxury - in part because of the popularity of text messaging among teens.
“It's more of an effort really to prevent serious accidents than it is to catch people and write them a ticket,” Alesi said in an interview Friday. “It will save lives.”
His suburban Rochester district witnessed an outpouring of emotion in late June when a 17-year-old driver's sport utility vehicle slammed into a tractor-trailer and burst into flames, killing her and four other women who had graduated just a few days earlier from Fairport High School.
A succession of calls and text messages on Bailey Goodman's cell phone, along with her inexperience at the wheel, were cited by police as possible factors in the nighttime crash on a winding, two-lane highway in the nearby Finger Lakes region.
While text messages were sent and received in the final minutes before the crash, investigators were unable to determine whether Goodman was the one using the phone.
The law proposed by Alesi, a Republican, would also require the state Department of Motor Vehicles to educate new drivers about the dangers of “driving while distracted.”
Co-sponsored by Susan John, a Democratic assemblywoman, it drew police backing. “Any and all bills ... to help highway safety will be supported by the State Police,” said Major Mark Koss.
Alesi said he'll push hard to get the bill taken up at a legislative session in Albany in mid-December. Even if a law is signed by year-end, it wouldn't take effect for six months, he said.
“The best good that would come from this would be a general awareness, especially among young drivers, that ... you take your eyes off the road for two seconds and it dramatically increases your chances of having a serious or fatal accident,” Alesi said.
In New York City last month, 23 percent of 3,120 drivers observed at 50 intersections were talking on the phone, with only half of them using hands-free devices, according to a Hunter College study.
Already this year, New Jersey and Washington state have passed laws to ban texting while driving.
Beginning next July, California drivers under age 18 will have to put down all cell phones and other electronic devices while driving. Older drivers will be able to use hands-free devices but minors won't enjoy that luxury - in part because of the popularity of text messaging among teens.
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