House Kills Hang Up And Drive Bill
The Colorado House just blew an opportunity to make roads safer for motorcyclists and others.
After coming all the way through the Colorado Senate, the Colorado House has killed the bill that would have made it illegal for drivers to dial or text with their phones while driving. The vote, on Tuesday, was 11-0 in the House Judiciary Committee.
Senate sponsor, Lois Court, said she is not done with this measure and it will return next session.
The American Civil Liberties Union was one of the chief opponents of the bill. The ACLU argued that “all the studies tell us that banning their use or imposing high fines on their use doesn’t stop the use.” Denise Maes, Public Policy Director for the ACLU, also expressed concern that the law could be used as a cover for racial profiling.
No, banning and imposing fines would not stop people from using their phones but I have to believe it would at least reduce their use. Laws against murder do not stop all instances of murder but you better believe it happens a lot less frequently than it would if it were legal. As for racial profiling, Colorado is not known as having a high incidence of that, unlike some other cities we could name. But if a bad cop wants to do it he or she always knows some law they can use. It’s not like this would have been the only one they could turn to.
So this was a very sad day. Drivers need to hang up their damn phones and drive.
In the meantime, there is other activity of interest at the Capitol.
Per Stump: “SB19-144 (Motorcyclists and Malfunctioning Traffic Signals) passed through 2nd and 3rd readings in the House chambers this week with one small amendment at 3rd reading to correct a “grammatical†error. Of course, that meant it had to go back to the Senate for concurrence on the House amendment, which was easily handled this week also. So now it goes to the Governor for his signature.”
Biker Quote for Today
Fake bikers have an image to maintain. The real bikers just don’t give a damn.
Tags: distracted driving
