Texting compromise being considered

DES MOINES – A House-Senate conference committee today reached tentative agreement on a texting compromise that would ban most drivers from sending or reading text messages and ban cell phone use by young drivers altogether.

The 10-member panel was looking at allowing text reading exemptions for drivers engaged in public safety or transportation-related work. The compromise language also would prevent law officers from using a stop for suspected texting to charge a driver for other offenses if phone records indicating no texting was involved.

“I think this is a great compromise that we're looking at here,” said Sen. Tom Rielly, D-Oskaloosa. “I don't think we're that far apart on it. I think we have a real opportunity to make Iowa roads safer.”

Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo, a co-leader of the House-Senate conference, said he was hopeful the panel could hammer out the compromise language that would ban the reading of casual or leisure texts by most drivers, but provide targeted exemptions for law officers, emergency responders and professional drivers – such as truckers or bus drivers – who use dash-mounted information systems in their lines of work.

Danielson said he believed the conferees had the framework for an agreement that could be approved by the House and Senate and sent to Gov. Chet Culver.

The House-Senate panel was assigned to bridge differences between the Senate, which banned writing, sending or reading of text messages and emails, and the House – which imposed a complete ban on cell phone use by teen drivers operating with a graduated driver's license.

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