SB 1222: Hang Up and Drive

Virginia Senate Bill 1222, which secured majority votes in both houses of our legislature, makes texting while driving a primary offense.

http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?131+ful+SB1222H1

Sandy Garst, who's been doing an awesome job of e-mailing updates on bills of interest to our correspondents, classifies SB 1222 as a nanny-state bill to oppose. Well...there is that "lawfully parked or stopped." Maybe that phrase unnecessarily penalizes those who need to call while in the driver's seat of a vehicle that may be on the highway, but is in the "park" gear, to say "I'm stuck in heavy traffic," or perhaps "I'm waiting outside the grocery store for someone who said s/he was only going to pick up two items." If an exception for that kind of situation needed to be spelled out, let's hope the Virginia Highway Patrol have enough sense to use their tickets for more deserving offenders.

Apart from that SB 1222 looks good to me.