Senate votes to ban smartphone use behind the wheel

OLYMPIA — The Washington Senate has voted to extend the state’s ban on cellphone use while driving to cover the range of functions a smartphone can now serve — like using Twitter and Facebook.

Lawmakers in 2008 could only conceive of two cellphone uses dangerous enough to ban drivers from: hand-held phone calls and texting. But the Senate on Tuesday passed a far broader list of banned activities by a bipartisan 35-14 margin.

The bill now moves to the House for consideration.

Technically allowed now but out under the new measure are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and video games. Engaging in any of those behind the wheel would become grounds for a $209 ticket that, for the second offense and all afterward, would drive up insurance rates. So, too, would consulting Google maps or Yelp reviews to figure out where to drive for an outing, even while the car is motionless at a stop sign or a traffic light.

“The time is right,” said Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, lead sponsor of the bill. “We know that Apple is putting out new iPhones all the time, and I don’t want to be on the Apple 12 before we revisit this.”

Under her bill, drivers would be free to use their cellphones only in hands-free mode or while parked on the roadside. It would become a traffic infraction for a driver to be occupied with entering information into a cellphone by hand, reading an article or even holding the phone. Washington is already one of 13 states that ban handheld calls and texting for all drivers.

While no senator spoke up for a right to like a Facebook status while steering through Interstate 5 traffic, several discussed how the evolution — and increasing ease of use — of wireless technology, from Google Glass to the Apple Watch introduced Monday, complicated the issue.

Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, brought up the complexity of the in-dash GPS systems many new cars come with and held up her phone to illustrate the point before voting against the bill.

“I honestly think that it’s less confusing to use this cellphone to get directions than it is to go into my car and do it,” Roach said.

Under an amendment proposed by Sen. Marko Liias, D-Lynnwood, it would come with one partly free pass: the first offense would not affect a driver’s insurance rates. Liias and other senators noted the risk inherent in enabling a teenager’s cellphone reliance to affect the family’s car insurance premiums.

“I’ll tell you, if my son or daughter broke this law two or three times, they wouldn’t be driving anymore,” Liias said.

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