Florida punts again on texting law

Texting while driving is a deadly epidemic in this country.

Nearly nine people die every day as a result of distracted driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The numbers for accidents in general are even higher — about one every minute. That means that, in just the time it took you to read this far in this column — CRASH!! — another life was probably affected, maybe ended. It’s a problem more prevalent than drunken driving. For all those reasons, most states — 42 of them — have banned texting while driving.

And for all those reasons, safe-driving advocates and victims of past crashes hoped Florida would join them this year. But we did not. As legislators once again held countless hearings on issues the booze lobby, pot lobby, gun lobby and insurance lobby wanted them to consider, the bill to ban texting while driving simply collected dust.

“We didn’t even get a hearing — not one hearing — in the transportation committee,” said Rep. Emily Slosberg, the South Florida Democrat who sponsored the bill.

“It’s just not a priority because there aren’t lobbyists up here pushing it.” CRASH!! (Another minute passed.) Technically, Florida does have a ban on texting and driving. But, unlike those other 42 states, it’s what’s called a “secondary offense,” meaning cops can’t stop drivers unless the officers see the drivers committing some other infraction.

As Slosberg noted: “Every other infraction, including not wearing seat belts, is a primary offense.”

The inconsistency makes little sense to law-enforcement leaders.

“I just don’t understand why we haven’t followed the other states,” said Orlando Police Chief John Mina.

It’s not about making more arrests, Mina said. It’s about changing behavior. “I think it would stop the vast majority of law-abiding people who will decide: OK, now it’s a law.”

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings agreed, noting that such laws wouldn’t just protect other drivers, but pedestrians as well. CRASH!! That was the last sound WKMG-Channel 6 anchor Matt Austin heard before he blacked out last year.

Austin regained his senses in the middle of an intersection with something wet running down his neck.

It was blood. The child safety seat in his back of his car had flown forward when a texting driver rammed into his car, ripping off the back of Austin’s scalp.

During his recovery in the week that followed - much of it in dark room where he couldn’t read or even watch his own TV station - Austin decided to do something he hadn’t ever done before: actively lobby to get a law changed.

“I never wanted to blur this line,” Austin said. “But this isn’t a partisan issue. It’s something the public overwhelmingly supports. I’ve been contacted by people with stories about moms dying, kids dying. something needs to change.”

So Austin, a father of three, took his own story to the airwaves and started interviewing legislators, asking why they wouldn’t change the law.

Few of them actually seemed opposed to the idea. It was just that few of them seemed very passionate about championing it, either. “They finally realized: It’s not that there’s money pushing them not to do this,” Austin said. “It’s that there’s not money pushing them to do this.”

That became extra clear during a trip to Tallahassee when Austin stood outside a legislative chamber with the father of a child killed by a distracted driver as lawmakers debated a tweak in the state’s liquor laws ... for six hours.

The grieving dad was incensed. He couldn’t even get legislators to hold a hearing on the texting law. But the lobbyists for Wal-Mart, Target and the liquor stores — all fighting over their right to the public’s booze money — scored undivided attention. CRASH!! Slosberg said she will try again next year. She has a bipartisan coalition of co-sponsors. And in a ray of hope, she said legislative leaders have agreed to hold a workshop on the matter this fall.

There is a contingent opposed to texting laws on the grounds that texting is a civil liberty. But that argument doesn’t take much thought to refute. Drinking beer is a liberty, too. But you don’t have the right to do it while driving.

Quite simply, you don’t have the liberty to engage in behavior likely to kill people.

There are details that need fleshing out; rules about checking phones at stoplights or for GPS purposes, the amount of the fines, etc. But the important thing is to have the discussion — something most states have already done, but which Florida has not. Meanwhile, as every day passes CRASH!! To find contact info for your legislator, visit www.leg.state.fl.us.