Kentucky's Capitol
(2010-02-04)
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Rep. Keith Hall, D-Phelps, says he has seen the light. Hall voted against the texting ban in committee, but voted for it on the House floor, following a serious accident involving his wife. Hall says she crashed after looking down to answer her ringing cell phone.
Photo courtesy Legislative Research Commission (Click image to enlarge)
FRANKFORT, KY (WEKU) - A bill banning text messaging while driving continues its forward progress through the Kentucky General Assembly.
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Rep. Keith Hall of Phelps says he has seen the light. He voted against the texting bill in committee, but that was before his wife was involved in a serious accident in Frankfort.
"And I rushed to the site where my wife was sitting in her vehicle," said Hall. "And they had the big neck brace on her and getting ready to put her on a gurney. And I said, 'Honey what happened?' She said, 'My cell phone rang, and I looked down. And when I looked down, the vehicle darted in front of me, and I T-boned her right on the East-West Connector at Martin Luther King, and the woman was on a cell phone.'"
Hall voted for the texting ban, which sailed through the House 80-16, and moves to the Senate. The bill prohibits drivers from reading or sending text messages from a moving vehicle.
(MORE ON THE TEXTING DEBATE)
Among opponents of the bill was Rep. Alicia Webb-Edgington, R-Ft. Wright. The retired state trooper says the problem can already be addressed through reckless driving laws.
"If we do a better job in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the Office of Highway Safety and the Kentucky State Police educate the citizens of this great commonwealth, that we will inform them that reckless driving means a serious penalty to them and could potentially cause their insurance rates to go through the roof," said Webb-Edgington.
Another former state trooper, Rep. Sal Santoro, also voted against the bill. Santoro, R-Florence, says texting bans in 19 other states don't work.
"Nothing has been changed," said Santoro. "They have these laws that are ineffective. We have the law of reckless driving which will work on this and it needs to be enforced. Thank you, Mr. Speaker."
But the bill's primary sponsor, Rep. Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, disagreed, saying texting bans in other states are saving lives.
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