New law normally takes goal at distracted driving | News

As of this 12 months, 25 states ban all motorists, regardless of age, from working with handheld cell telephones, in accordance to info from the Governors Highway Basic safety Affiliation.

Irrespective of help from condition law enforcement and driver basic safety organizations, these types of as Push Intelligent Virginia, the legislation did increase some objections when it was taken up by the Typical Assembly past year.

“I know one of the good reasons Virginia has taken so prolonged to move this law, is there ended up issues that it would be employed for profiling,” Fenwick claimed.

Following customers of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus spoke out about their fear that the law could unfairly goal motorists of color, the invoice was amended to have to have law enforcement departments to make studies on demographics accessible. Del. Jeff Bourne, D-Richmond, a distinguished member of the caucus, sponsored the monthly bill in the Property of Delegates.

There is enthusiasm for the legislation in the insurance policies industry as properly. Wayne Modena, a Condition Farm insurance agent in Orange, stated his company has been advocating for more robust basic safety necessities considering that they pushed for seat belt laws in automobiles decades in the past.

“With the freeway speeds and variety of roads we have now, a break up next can make a huge variation on hitting a deer, hitting one more car or truck or hitting a youngster,” Modena claimed. “Anything we can do to diminish or sluggish distracted driving is a huge advancement.”