Officially on March 8, 2012 there will be a stop put to drivers attempting to text message while driving their vehicle.
The Pennsylvania State Police anticipates the law will serve to educate law abiding citizens on the dangers of texting and driving and will create voluntary compliance by the majority of motorists, said Trooper Bruce Morris, Public Information Officer for the Pennsylvania State Police.
Clear violations include: writing, sending and/or reading e-mails, text messages and instant messages, Bruce said.
The PSP will attempt to use observations of the driver while the vehicle is in motion to determine if traffic stops are warranted for any particular situation. An example might be the motorist continues to manipulate the device over an extended distance with no apparent voice communication.
In November 2011, Governor Corbett signed legislation that would ban texting while driving on Pennsylvania roads. This new law makes texting while driving a $50 fine with a conviction of the offense.
“Senate Bill 314 aims to put a halt to texting from behind the wheel and is intended to save lives,” Corbett said during a bill-signing event in suburban Harrisburg in November. “No text message is worth a human life. The message of this legislation is to drive now and text later.”
In 2010, there were almost 14,000 crashes in Pennsylvania where distracted driving played a role, with nearly 1,100 of those crashes involving a hand cellular phone, Bruce said.
“We’ve said it in the past, but today, we are making it the law: if you have an urgent need to text, you must pull over and park. If it’s not important enough to stop your car, then it’s certainly not important enough to risk a life,” said Corbett.
