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Mass. lawmakers agree to ban texting while driving

E-mail|Link|Comments () June 22, 2010 12:11 PM

By Michael Levenson and Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff

The Massachusetts House and Senate have agreed on a crackdown on distracted driving that includes a ban on texting while driving, legislative officials said this morning.

The compromise proposal, forged by negotiators who were reconciling two different bills passed by the House and Senate, will also include a ban on cellphone use for drivers under age 18, according to a legislative official with direct knowledge of the agreement.

The bill will also include new requirements for older drivers. It would require them to renew their licenses in person and take an eye test when they turn 75 and every five years thereafter, the official said.

The details of the distracted driving proposal are to be announced this afternoon in a State House news conference.

Both the House and Senate had passed different versions of the bill earlier this year but had been unable to come up with a compromise to pass and send to the governor's desk. The bill had been in a conference committee for 105 days.

Massachusetts lags behind many states in addressing distracted driving, which is increasingly cited as a factor in fatal automobile accidents, according to a new study, the Globe reported last week.

Twenty-eight states have enacted bans on texting while driving, including Vermont and Georgia, where governors signed such measures this month.

Massachusetts also lags behind other states in the use of public education and law enforcement to reduce distracted driving, according to the "Curbing Distracted Driving" report by the Governors Highway Safety Association, which is based on the first survey of practices in all 50 states and three territories.

Martin Finucane of the Globe staff contributed to this report.