Iowa House votes down common-sense, OKs partial texting ban

By James Q. Lynch 

The Gazette

The Iowa House went on record Tuesday opposing the use of common-sense while driving, but did vote to limit text messaging while driving.

The House approved House File 2456 to prohibit drivers from writing or sending text messages or e-mail 65

-31 and sent it to the Senate where similar legislation is pending.

Neither bill appears to satisfy Gov. Chet Culver, who wants restrictions that meet proposed federal standards that also call for prohibitions on reading text messages while driving.

“There are millions of dollars at stake,” Culver said Tuesday, referring to federal transportation aid. “We need to be in compliance.”

He plans to issue an executive order banning state employees driving state vehicles from reading, writing and sending text messages.

The Iowa Department of Transportation has taken a similar position, indicating it supports the concept of HF 2456, but the bill does not go far enough.

Several lawmakers indicated that was the basis of their opposition, too.

“We're only tilting at a windmill,” Rep. Doug Struyk, R-Council Bluffs, said. “The will of the body shows: We're not ready to move forward on real text messaging laws.”

“I'm against distracted driving and I'm against this bill,” Rep. Scott Raecker, R-Urbandale, said. “This bill does not make distracted driving illegal. It makes writing a text or pushing a send button illegal. You want to play a game? You want to check the sports scores? You want to be distracted by using your hand-held electronic device in your car? Go right ahead.”

Lawmakers may get there some day, said Rep. Dave Tjepkes, R-Gowrie, a former state trooper, “but it comes down to the one point: Where do we start?”

“I think it's a step forward,” co-floor manager Rep. Curt Hanson, D-Fairfield, said. “I realize it is not perfect. I think it's a step in the right direction. It's going to become a much bigger problem in the future. A chance to put the stopper in the genie's bottle before the genie gets completely out.”

HF2456 is that stopper for the time being because there were not enough votes to include a ban on reading text messages, according to Tjepkes and Hanson.

That may have been true if supporters tried to further limit cell phone use, said House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha. However, he believed there was support for a bill that attacked distracted driving “in a conceptual sense” that would include eating, grooming, reading books and other distractions.

Texting, Tjepkes said, has been “deemed by many to be one of the most dangerous.”

Raecker and Rep. Chris Rants, R-Sioux City, offered amendments to extend the ban to reading those messages and place tighter restrictions on young drivers.

Raecker offered an amendment to replace the language of the bill by simply saying “A person shall use common sense at all times when the person is operating a motor vehicle.”

That would apply not only to texting while driving, but attending to personal hygiene, eating, selecting music on a hand-held device or surfing the Internet, Raecker said.

His amendment failed 38-52 with Republicans largely supporting it and Democrats largely opposing it.

Rants, the father of a 15-year-old learning to drive, argued for stricter restrictions on young divers. Research shows they are more than four times as likely as adults to be involved in an accident because of distracted driving.

It too was rejected, largely along party lines.

A violation of HF 2456 would be a simple misdemeanor with a scheduled fine of $30. Only warning tickets will be issued the first year. Additional penalties would apply if the driver is in an accident that results in a serious injury or death.