A bill aimed at curbing texting while driving easily passed a vote on the House floor today.
House Bill 1965, by Rep. Terry O’Donnell, strengthens language aimed at preventing texting while driving, marking a first offense fine at $250. Subsequent offenses would register a $500 fine.
The bill passed by a 96-2 margin on the floor of the state House of Representatives.
“I am grateful and honored of the overwhelming support HB 1965 received on the House floor today,” said O’Donnell, R-Catoosa. “The ban on texting while driving is a long-term investment into the safety of those using our roads and highways. When our state passed drinking and driving laws and mandatory seatbelt laws, little changed overnight. But eventually the attitudes of drivers changes and lives were saved.”
Rep. Mike Christian, a retired Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper, supported the legislation and said it was an important bill to support.
“The tragic accident that killed OHP trooper Nicholas Dees and seriously injured trooper Keith Burch in January was completely preventable,” said Christian, R-Oklahoma City. “It was a direct result of a driver so absorbed in his electronic media that he ran into both troopers at high speed while they were working the scene of another accident. Passing this is a fitting tribute to both troopers that this act bears their names.”
According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, 44 states currently have a texting ban on drivers.
“This has been an issue we’ve studied in the legislature for some time,” O’Donnell said. “In an interim study last year, we learned that texting while driving makes the driver 23 times more likely to be involved in an accident. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, drinking and driving makes a driver six times more likely to be in an accident. When you compare those two stats, you have an idea of the danger texting while driving presents on our roads and highways.”
The measure now heads to the state Senate.
