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INDIANAPOLIS – Many teenagers would no longer be allowed to talk or text on cell phones while driving under a bill that overwhelmingly passed in the House on Wednesday.
The measure would also toughen Indiana’s graduated driver’s license system in an effort to slow the high fatality rate for teen drivers.
Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond, a former police officer, said she has experienced firsthand the problems with young, inexperienced and often distracted drivers.
“I have peeled more kids off of concrete than anyone in this room,” she said. “Anything that we can do to make our kids’ lives better is a good idea.”
In 2007, 153 Hoosier teens were killed in driving accidents, and motor-vehicle crashes continue to be the top killer of teens statewide and nationwide.
The author of the bill, Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, has estimated that Senate Bill 16 would reduce the number of fatal crashes caused by teen drivers by 40 percent and save 60 lives a year.
The 93-6 vote sends the measure back to the Senate, where Holdman is hopeful he can send the bill to the governor.
All area representatives voted for the legislation after some lively debate.
Rep. Mike Murphy, R-Indianapolis, criticized the bill as government intruding into private matters.
“At some point, we have to quit turning our children over to the government to raise and think again about raising our children ourselves,” he said. “Nothing in this law could not be done by a responsible parent.”
The bill’s measures would take effect on different dates. The provisions that would take effect in July are aimed at reducing distractions in the vehicle and include:
•Banning drivers younger than 18 from talking on cell phones or texting while driving.
•Extending the period in which new teen drivers’ passengers are restricted from three months to six months, with an exception for siblings.
•Instituting nighttime driving restrictions from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. for the first 180 days.
Other parts of the bill would take effect in July 2010, including pushing back when teens could get their license.
Currently, teens who take driver’s education can get a license at 16 years and one month. That would be extended to 16 years and six months. Teens who don’t take driver’s education could get a license at 16 years and six months, same as current law.
Also, starting in 2010, teens would have to provide a log of 50 hours of supervised driving practice with a licensed adult.
“We need to do something to protect these young lives that have so much promise, and yet because they are so young and inexperienced, we end up with lost lives,” said Rep. Cleo Duncan, R-Greensburg.
