ALBANY, NY - Governor Andrew Cuomo was in Western New York Thursday for a ceremonial bill signing; making texting while driving a primary offense in New York State.
The signing took place at the ECC South Campus in Orchard Park.
Beyond the $150 dollar fine, and beyond the two points on your driver's license, the watch words for motorists who violate New York's new texting while driving law are "Primary Offense".
For while it has been illegal to text while driving in New York for two years, up till now it's been a "secondary" offense, meaning police could only pull you over and cite you if your activity resulted in another offense, such as erratic driving.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo; today signed a law that will not only toughen penalties for texting while driving, but will also allow police to pull someone over solely upon their observation of a motorist using a hand held electronic device.
The new law will also require distracted driving curriculum for people seeking a license.
The state Legislature last month passed the tougher bill after criticism that the current law, adopted in 2009, lacked teeth.
"If a trooper visually observes somebody engaging in some type of behavior with a Blackberry, or an I-phone, they will make that stop," said New York State Police Lt. Kevin Barnas. "Any kind of distracted driving is a danger."
New York was one of only four states that had a texting-while-driving ban that didn't make it a primary offense. Twenty-seven other states had it as a primary infraction.
Gannett's Albany Bureau reported in April that few tickets were issued for texting while driving compared to the number issued for talking on a cell phone without a handheld device, a primary offense and a law since 2001.
Records obtained by Gannett from the state Department of Motor Vehicles showed that nearly 332,000 tickets were issued statewide for cellphone use while driving in 2010, compared to just 3,200 for texting while driving - the first full year the law was in place.
"Oh, my gosh, I am so thrilled," said Kelly Cline, the mother of A.J. Larson, who died in a 2007 crash while texting as he drove near his West Seneca home.
Cline was one of several people who lost loved ones as a result of texting while driving, to try and drive home the point to state legislators that tougher distracted driving laws were needed. "It's what we've been fighting for for three years," Cline told WGRZ-TV.
Cline was not in New York City for Tuesday's bill signing, and told 2 On Your Side she believes the Governor may come to Western New York for another ceremonial signing, at which time she would be pleased to join him.
Following the bill signing, Gov. Cuomo was careful to note to reporters that the law applies not only to texting, but to using a hand held device--while driving-- for any other purpose, such as surfing the web or checking e-mail.
And ...even if you just have one in your hand while driving, the law is written in such a way, that you are presumed to be "using" it, and therefore subject to being stopped.
"It's a rebuttable presumption," said Cuomo, meaning that if there's to be an argument over whether a device was actually being used, it would be fleshed out in court before a judge.
Lt. Barnas said troopers are not supposed to try and prove the point by demanding to see a motorist's phone. But he also believes that if someone were to try to challenge a ticket in court and argue that they were not actually "using" their device, then they could expect prosecutors to subpoena the records of their mobile provider to make sure.
WEB EXTRA: CLICK HERE TO READ THE NEW LAW.
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