INDIANAPOLIS – Drivers in Indiana would no longer be able to make or receive calls on their cell phone under a bill passed 29-20 by the Indiana Senate on Tuesday.
House Bill 1129 goes further than earlier texting prohibitions passed in both the House and Senate this year.
But Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, said the bill will likely be changed when it goes to conference committee. That is when key House and Senate members are appointed to negotiate a compromise.
The ban on making and receiving phone calls was added to the bill Monday in an amendment offered by Sen. Brent Steele, R-Bedford.
He contends it’s just as dangerous to take your eyes off the road and dial a call as sending a text.
According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, eight states and Washington, D.C., have complete bans on using hand-held cell phones. Those states are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington. Thirty states and Washington, D.C., ban texting for all drivers. Indiana currently has a texting ban only for drivers younger than 18.
Holdman opposed the new wording because he thinks it hinders the chances for a texting ban to be enacted this year. Republican legislators, especially, have been reluctant to do what they see as encroaching on Hoosiers’ personal freedoms. The GOP controls both chambers of the General Assembly.
Before that amendment, the bill simply banned writing or reading texts and e-mails while driving. Steele argued it would be impossible to enforce because police officers could not tell the difference between someone texting and dialing.
Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, said he generally opposes passing a bill the state can’t enforce. But he believes the voluntary compliance rate on the texting ban is worth passing a law.
“I’m going to buy half a loaf of bread,” he said.
Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, said Steele’s amendment prohibiting calls was “nothing more than a tactic to kill the bill.”
There are no limits in the legislation related to surfing the Internet, watching a movie or other activities available on smart phones.
Area senators voting “yes” on the bill were Holdman; Sen. Tom Wyss, R-Fort Wayne; Sen. Sue Glick, R-LaGrange; and Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn.
Sen. David Long, R-Fort Wayne, and Sen. Jim Banks, R-Columbia City, voted against the bill.
