Teens who talk and drive targeted

If a state lawmaker from Peachtree City has his way, teens found using their cellphones while driving could lose their licenses.

When the General Assembly convenes later this month, Rep. Matt Ramsey plans on introducing legislation that would make it illegal for drivers under 18 to talk, text, e-mail or instant message on their phones while operating a vehicle.

If the bill becomes law, violators would face a fine of $175 and the addition of a point on their license on their first offense, and a $500 fine and two points to their license with a second offense.

Those found to be using their phones at the time of an accident would receive an automatic 90-day suspension of their licenses and a six-month license suspension for a second such infraction.

Exemptions would be allowed for calls seeking to summon emergency help, prevent injury or report illegal activity.

The legislation would be added to Georgia’s existing graduated license restrictions first enacted in 1997.

“Had they known then that 60 percent of the kids would be texting [while driving] in 2008 and 90 percent would be talking on their phones, that probably would have been part of the bill,” he said.

“I think this is logically the next step.”

The proposed legislation strikes a personal chord for Ramsey, a Republican who recently was forced off the road by a high school-age girl talking on her cellphone.

“It was enough to get you thinking,” Ramsey said.

His is the latest attempt by state lawmakers to get a handle on the growing use of cellphones while driving by motorists.

Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur) has tried unsuccessfully each of the past two years. She’s feeling considerably more optimistic about her chances the third time around because her bill is similar to Ramsey’s in that it specifically targets teen drivers using cellphones. Oliver, however, think the penalties Ramsey has suggested might be too severe. She hopes to find a middle ground.

“I think we all recognize the exploding use of cellphones while people are driving is dangerous,” she said.

Ramsey said the legislation is specifically aimed at less mature and inexperienced teenagers and not the entire population as a whole because statistics bear out that group as the most easily distracted while driving.

He’d get no argument from Annie Stephens.

The 15-year-old Starr’s Mill High School student, who will be getting her driver’s license in February, said she would welcome the restrictions.

“I think, while driving, [using cellphones] is not very safe to do,” she said, “because you’re not totally focused on the road. It’s just another precaution.

“It’s not just for the safety of the teenagers, but everybody else on the road, too.”

Car crashes are the leading causes of death for young drivers aged 15-19, according to the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

Ramsey also cited a national study that found the bulk of the 5,000 teen driving fatalities from 2007 had been attributed to cellphone use.

Georgia first began setting boundaries on teen driving in 1997 when state lawmakers enacted the Teenage and Adult Driver Responsibility Act, or TADRA. Hoping to limit potentially fatal distractions, lawmakers limited the numbers of passengers allowed to be in the car with teens at one time and the times in which they could be behind the wheel. Teenage driving fatalities have dipped roughly 40 percent since that law took effect, Ramsey said.

If the bill passes, Georgia will join 18 other states that already have enacted legislation to limit cellphone use by teenagers.