Iowa Senate raises penalty for texting while driving

DES MOINES - Drivers could be pulled over and face a $30 fine for texting while driving under a proposal approved by the Iowa Senate 44-6 Tuesday.

However, law enforcement officers enforcing the law would be exempt from the ban on texting while driving under Senate File 391, which now goes to the House.

SF 391 is an expansion of current law that allows drivers to be cited for texting while driving, but only if they are stopped for some other violation. Under current law, the offense is not a moving violation and cannot be considered for purposes of administrative suspension of a driver's license or to establish habitual offender status.

The bill would make texting while driving a primary offense meaning that a law enforcement officer who saw a driver texting or had reason to believe the driver was texting could make a traffic stop.

Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Tod Bowman, D-Maquoketa, called it 'delusional” for drivers to think they can safely text and drive.

He challenged colleagues to make draw a square with their right hand at the same time as drawing a circle with their left.

'You can't do it. You can do one real well, but you can't do both,” Bowman said. 'Same concept behind texting and driving.”

In 2012, more than 3,300 people tied in texting while driving crashes, he said, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 31 percent of driver ages 18 to 64 said they has read or sent a text or email at least once in the past 30 days.

'We're sharing the roads with these folks and that's what concerns me most,” Bowman said. 'They're putting us all at risk.”

Sen. Mark Chelgren, R-Wapello, who voted for the bill, questioned why law enforcement personnel were exempt and why all forms of distracted driving - eating, applying makeup, reading and others - were not included.

However, Sen. Tim Kapucian, R-Keystone, defended the bill, saying texting while driving has become 'chronic.”

'The one thing that texting while driving has done for me is make me a better defensive driver,” Kapucian added.

Under the bill, if a driver who is texting while driving causes a serious injury, a court could impose an additional fine of $500 or suspend the person's driver's license for not more than 90 days or both. If the violation causes a death, the driver could face an additional fine of $1,000 or suspension for not more than 180 days, or both.