Bill seeks to address cellphone-related deaths on Louisiana roads

Lawmakers have considered a bill that seeks to address the spike in cellphone-related accidents and deaths on Louisiana roads.

A bill by Mike Huval, R-Breaux Bridge, would expand the existing ban of cellphone usage while driving in school zones to all roads.

The proposal would also decrease the fines associated with texting while driving from $500 to $100 for a first violation and from $1,000 to $300 for a second violation.

A third violation would then incur fines of up to $300. The proposal would also lower the driver’s license suspension for a third violation from 60 to 30 days.

Safe driving practices, Huval said, is the main idea behind his bill. He cited other states that enforced similar legislation and as a consequence reported a decline in fatal car accidents.

Cellphone-related fatal accidents are on the rise in the state, according to data from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. This year, there were nine fatalities and 317 cases of injury due to cell phone distractions, the data shows.

The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that one-third of U.S. drivers aged 18 to 68 years old engage with their phone while driving. The same report shows that nationally, there are more than 420,000 texting and driving-related injuries every year.

Richard Brown, a resident of Kenner, opposed the bill. In his testimony Brown said the problem with distracted driving is not the act of holding the phone but the mental distraction of the conversation.

Sen. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, expressed her concerns about traffic incidents caused by electronics distraction and supported Huval’s bill.

“We’ve been working on this a long time,” Barrow said. “We still have not yet come up with some good tools to really address it.”