MONTGOMERY, AL (WAFF) -
The ban on texting while driving passes in the Alabama House of Representatives by a vote of 92 to 0.
Under the bill, anyone texting while driving would face a $25 fine for a first offense, $50 for a second and $75 for each later conviction.
Each conviction will also carry a two-point penalty on a person's driving record.
[Click here to read HB2 (PDF)]
According to a University of Utah study, distraction from a phone delays a driver's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. And the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that drivers who use cell phones are four times as likely to get into an injury-causing crash.
House Bill 2, known as the "TTYL Act," would prohibit driving a vehicle on an Alabama highway or street while using a wireless telecommunication device to write, send or read a text-based communication, including email. The catchy title "TTYL," which is text-message lexicon for "talk to you later," is intended to reach the texting-crazed 16-25 demographic to encourage them to drive more responsibly.
Statistics show that sending and receiving text messages while operating a vehicle is as likely or more likely to contribute to a deadly crash than drunken driving. While cities and counties across Alabama have passed their own local "texting" bans, bill sponsor Representative Jim McClendon (R-Springville) said it is on trooper-patrolled state highways where high speeds make distracted driving especially deadly.
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Alabama lawmakers pass the texting while driving bill, 92-0 Tuesday.
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