Although some ground was covered with Senator Nancy Detert’s proposed 2012 texting while driving ban bill (Senate Bill 416) which advanced through four votes in the Senate, Florida remains one of 11 states that currently does not have any distracted driving prohibitions.
SB 416 was amended from Detert’s original 2011 bill in an attempt to make it more attractive to resistant lawmakers, however SB 416 was never even considered. Current House speaker Dean Cannon opposes “one more layer of prohibitive behavior” by the state government. Even though Florida state records show that during the first 10 months of 2011 electronic distraction caused 2,218 accidents with 145 of those linked specifically to texting while driving, Cannon considers that there are many other distracted behaviors that are at least as dangerous as texting while driving. He maintains that texting should therefore not be singled out.
Republican Will Weatherford will be the next House speaker, and is considered to be open to new ideas. Proponents of distracted driving bans like Sen. Detert and Rep. Irv Slosberg who has filed several pieces of distracted driving legislation, remain hopeful that Weatherford will consider texting while driving bans with more weight than Cannon.
A new survey shows that more than 70% of Florida voters are in support of a statewide ban on text messaging while driving, with Democrats appearing to be more in favor of distracted driving legislation than Republicans.
Bills introduced between 2009 and 2011 were rejected or ignored, as well as five bills in 2012 in addition to the most recent SB416. Dead 2012 legislation includes SB122 that would require driving schools to have course content related to dangers of distracted driving, HB 299 which would completely ban texting while driving, HB 39 to require cited motorists cited for traffic offenses while using handheld wireless communication to appear before a “designated official,” and SB 930/HB 187 which would ban underage drivers from using handheld cell phones.
According to Daytona Beach law firm Politis & Matovina the banning of handheld devices could significantly lower the amount of distracted driving accidents seen in Florida.