Two bills that would ban the use of handheld cell phones while driving have breezed out of the Louisiana House of Representatives Transportation Committee.
Both would allow drivers to talk using hands-free devices.
One measure (House Bill 863), sponsored by Rep. Charmaine Stiaes, D-New Orleans, originally applied only to commercial drivers but was amended to apply to everyone on the road. The other bill (House Bill 1235) was sponsored by Rep. Austin Badon, D-New Orleans.
The House committee has approved a similar bill for the past two years, Badon said, but this year there is a “new carrot dangling out there” of $94 million in federal money that is available to states that ban cell phone use while driving by this summer.
Traffic fatalities involving cell phones are on the rise in Louisiana, claiming 26 lives in the last two years, according to Bobby Breland of the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission.
The bills head next to the full House for debate. If the proposals pass there, they face tough battles in the Senate, which has killed similar measures for the last two years.
Topics Louisiana Personal Auto
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