A texting while driving ban is headed for the full South Dakota House of Representatives. Committee members unanimously support the bill. Supporters want one uniform law to govern texting behind the wheel.
Seven cities in South Dakota have some form of a texting while driving ban. If House Bill 1177 becomes law, it trumps all current ordinances. That means texting while driving violations are downgraded from regulations passed in many cities. The bill bans texting while driving and labels it a secondary offense.
Paul Bachand represents the State’s Attorneys Association. He explains the difference between the primary and secondary classes.
"A primary offense is an offense in which, committed in your presence, you can make a stop for based upon probable cause or reasonable suspicion. So if you see that vehicle traveling down the road speeding, you can stop that person for speeding," Bachand says. "Now when we talk about a secondary offense, keep the same vehicle traveling down the road speeding but the individual isn’t wearing a seatbelt. You can only cite for the seatbelt violation if you have that other offense."
House Bill 1177 makes texting while driving a petty offense. That comes with a $25 fine.
Yvonne Taylor is the executive director of the South Dakota Municipal League. She says one portion of the bill goes too far in naming the state legislature the sole regulator of distracted driving and cell phone use on the road.
"We look at Section 4 and we wonder, where does this end? It is a terrible precedent. It is a start down a path that we have not gone down before," Taylor says. "It removes this issue from the statutory scheme that we are familiar with and have worked with in many cases since the 1940s."
Taylor says her organization still supports HB 1177; so do others who say the bill doesn’t go far enough. Lawmakers say South Dakota needs a consistent law on texting while driving.
House Bill 1177 doesn’t apply to texting while the car is parked. It allows dialing phone numbers and utilizing hands-free messaging options. The measure also includes a section that prevents law enforcement from seizing a driver’s cell phone when they suspect a texting while driving offense.
All lawmakers on the House Judiciary committee support moving forward on the bill. It goes next to the full state House of Representatives.