BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 28 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 28 (Simitian) As Amended July 7, 2011 Majority vote SENATE VOTE :24-12 TRANSPORTATION 13-1 APPROPRIATIONS 10-5 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, | | |Jeffries, Achadjian, | |Bradford, Charles | | |Blumenfield, Bonilla, | |Calderon, Campos, Gatto, | | |Buchanan, Eng, Furutani, | |Hall, Hill, Mitchell, | | |Galgiani, Logue, Norby, | |Solorio | | |Portantino, Solorio | | | | | | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| |Nays:|Miller |Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, | | | | |Nielsen, Norby, Wagner | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Increases the fine for cell phone use and text messaging while driving. Extends these bans to bicycling. Specifically, this bill : 1)Adds a test of a driver's understanding of the distractions and dangers of handheld cellular telephone use and text messaging while operating a motor vehicle to the list of items that the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) must include in its examination of a person who is applying for a driver's license. 2)Increases the total fine from $20 ($208 total bail) to $50 ($328 total bail) for the first offense and from $50 ($328 total bail) to $100 ($528 total bail) for any subsequent offense of driving while using a handheld wireless communications device to talk or text, or if a person is under the age of 18, using any wireless communications device at all. 3)Prohibits the driving of a motor vehicle while using an electronic wireless communications device to write, send, or read a text-based communication, unless the electronic SB 28 Page 2 wireless communications device is specifically designed and configured to allow voice-operated and hands-free operation to write, send, or read a text-based communication, and it is used in that manner while driving. 4)Assigns a point to a driver's license for a second or subsequent conviction of driving while using a handheld wireless communications device to talk or text or, if a driver is under the age of 18, using any wireless communications device for any purpose. This point does not apply to a bicyclist who is convicted of using a handheld telephone while cycling. 5)Allows for primary enforcement of a violation of using any wireless communication device while driving for drivers under the age of 18. 6)Prohibits a bicyclist from riding a bike while using a handheld wireless communication device to talk or text and establishes a total fine of $20 for an initial violation and $50 for any subsequent violation. This amount will be the total amount collected and will not include any other penalties, assessments, surcharges, or fees. 7)Establishes the Distracted Driving Education Fund and requires county treasurers to submit to the State Controller $10 from each fine collected for driving while texting or using a handheld wireless communications device in order to fund an education program on the dangers of these behaviors, but also allows the treasurers to withhold a sufficient amount from each fine to reimburse the courts in the county for their actual, reasonable, and necessary costs associated with processing those violations. 8)Requires the Legislature, upon appropriation in the Budget Bill, to allocate the education program funds to the Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) to develop and implement that program. 9)Includes provisions to avoid inadvertently chaptering out AB 82 (Jeffries and Chesbro), a bill dealing with driver's licenses needed for operating firefighting equipment. EXISTING LAW : SB 28 Page 3 1)Prohibits, with specified exceptions, a person from using a handheld wireless phone or engaging in text-based communication (e.g., text messages, instant messages, or email messages) while operating a motor vehicle. 2)Establishes a base fine is $20 for an initial offense for either violation and $50 for each subsequent offense. 3)Specifies that these violations are primary offenses such that a law enforcement officer may stop a driver who he or she has cause to believe is violating these laws. No points are assigned to the license of a driver who is convicted of either infraction. 4)Prohibits, with specified exceptions, a driver under 18 from using any wireless communications device while operating a motor vehicle, without regard to whether the device is hands-free or handheld. The base fine for an initial offense is $20 and $50 for each subsequent offense. 5)Provides that the use by a driver under 18 of a handheld cell phone for talking while driving is a primary offense while using a hands-free device or engaging in text-based communication on any mobile service device is a secondary offense, meaning that a law enforcement officer may not stop a driver solely for the purpose of determining whether or not a driver under 18 is violating this law. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, there will be an unknown increase in fine and penalty revenues, with the magnitude partly depending on the deterrent effect of the stiffer penalties for cell-phone use. As an illustration, in 2010, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) issued about 12,000 to 14,000 citations for cell phone violations per month. (No comparable data are available for citations issued by local police or sheriff's departments). Assuming that: 1) the increased penalties result in improved compliance and a 30% reduction in citations; and, 2) the CHP accounts for about two-thirds of total cell phone citations statewide, the bill would: a) Increase base fine revenues by roughly $4 million and penalty revenues by about $28 million annually; and, b) raise about $6 million for the new Distracted Driver Education Fund per year. SB 28 Page 4 There would also be costs for DMV to modify its driving test that are likely to be minor and absorbable and minor costs to county treasurers, which could be reimbursable from the General Fund. If reimbursable, aggregate mandate reimbursement costs could exceed $150,000. COMMENTS : In 2008, the AAA Foundation reported that "over half of U.S. drivers report having used a cell phone while driving in the past 30 days, and one in seven even admits to text messaging while driving." Similarly, according to a recent survey conducted by OTS, 47% of California drivers admitted to having talked on a handheld cell phone while driving in the prior 30 days, and a shocking 30% admitted to having texted or emailed while driving within that timeframe. Fifty-five percent of those surveyed reported that they had, at least once, been hit or nearly hit by a driver who was texting or talking on a cell phone. The AAA Foundation also reported the results of a driving study which found that: "Dialing a hand-held device was associated with nearly triple the odds of being involved in a crash or near-crash, and talking or listening to a hand-held device was associated with about a 30% increase in the odds of being involved in a crash or near-crash. Dialing hand-held devices was found to have been a contributing factor in 3.58% of crashes and near-crashes, and talking/listening on hand-held devices was a contributing factor in 3.56% of crashes and near-crashes. Both dialing and talking/listening on handheld devices contributed to significantly greater percentages of crashes and near-crashes than did any of the other secondary tasks that were studied-even though some of the other secondary tasks were associated with higher risk-because drivers dialed and talked on cell phones much more frequently than they engaged in most other secondary tasks." The California prohibition against talking on a handheld telephone while driving went into effect on July 1, 2008, and the prohibition against texting while driving went into effect on January 1, 2009. Accident data compiled by the California Highway Patrol indicates that the incidence of hand-held cell phone use contributing to traffic collisions ranged between 900 and 1200 occurrences per year between 2005 and 2008 but fell to 670 in 2009. SB 28 Page 5 Nevertheless, in spite of diligent efforts (including, notably, by the author of this bill) to reduce distracted driving, and despite the unambiguous evidence that cell phone use in general, and text-messaging in particular, constitutes highly irresponsible and dangerous behavior, handheld cell phone and text-messaging bans for drivers are clearly being largely ignored by a significant segment of the population. Given the nominal penalties for this behavior and sporadic enforcement efforts, it is not surprising that the public does not take these bans seriously. The author of this bill contends that the laws regarding the use of wireless communications devices while operating a motor vehicle have been effective, but that compliance could be improved if stronger penalties were established, such as increasing the fines and assigning points against the records of violators. These efforts to reduce distracted driving would be further strengthened, he believes, by establishing an education program designed to inform drivers of the risks of talking and text messaging using a wireless communications device while driving. Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety, writing in opposition to this bill, cites a multi-year meta-analysis of collisions conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which reviewed multiple jurisdictions with anti-cellphone laws for drivers (including California) as well as control group jurisdictions without such laws. "The evidence from that multi-state study shows that California's anti-cellphone laws for driver have had a statistically insignificant influence upon the rate and severity of collisions, despite a quantifiable reduction in drivers' illegal use of mobile phone devices. The reason for the insignificance of hands-free use versus hands-on use is attributed to the fact that the manner in which the cellphone is used is irrelevant, because it is the conversation itself that distracts drivers and contributes to collisions." While the dangers of using electronic devices while driving are well-documented, this bill additionally extends the reach of current law by proposing a prohibition against bicyclists using a handheld phone or text messaging. Although such behavior by bicyclists is clearly irresponsible, poses an obvious and substantial danger to themselves, and puts pedestrians, runners, and other bicyclists at some risk, it pales in comparison to the specter of a two-ton steel-and-glass vehicle moving at 60 miles SB 28 Page 6 per hour with the driver's attention focused on a device on his or her lap. Hence, there clearly is a lesser urgency in deterring such behavior by bicyclists. Nevertheless, as the bill establishes a comparatively small fine ($20 to $50) with no penalty assessments and no assignment of driver violation points for bicycle violations, one might judge these provisions to be more educational in nature than punitive. Legislative history: This bill is very similar to SB 1475 (Simitian) of 2010, which passed the both Senate and the Assembly Transportation Committee, but died on Suspense in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN: 0001579