Lawmakers have apparently derailed revived efforts to force Maryland drivers to hang up their cell phones while driving ? at leastfor this year.
A bill requiring hands-free devices for drivers behind the wheel received an unfavorable committee report this week because challengers didn?t understand its intent, one disappointed supporter said. As proposed, the law would authorize police offers to cite drivers talking on phones, grooming themselves, reading or doing anything to drive inattentively.
“I think they failed to realize that, whether you are putting on your make-up, or eating cereal or talking on a cell phone, you also have to be driving unsafely,” said Del. Tanya Shewell, R-Carroll County, who co-sponsored the bill. “I don?t think they got that message.”
A matching bill in the Senate and one that targets only cell phones are unlikely to succeed this session as well, officials said.
Del. John Arnick, D-Baltimore County, who died in June of lung cancer, championed similar legislation over the past decade, but no attempts have made it past committee. At least 28 states regulate cell phone use in some capacity, according to Matt Sundeen, a transportation expert with the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Five states have bans on hand-held devices, including Washington, D.C.
