© 2024 Ideastream Public Media

1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 916-6100 | (877) 399-3307

WKSU is a public media service licensed to Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
News
To contact us with news tips, story ideas or other related information, e-mail newsstaff@ideastream.org.

State Representative Gets Federal Support For Texting Bill

The author of a legislative proposal to ban texting-while-driving in Ohio says her bill is getting a big boost from a recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board. The 5-member board has unanimously called for all states to ban not only texting-while-driving, but also talking on cellphones while driving, even when motorists use a hands-free device. State Representative Nancy Garland’s proposed texting ban has passed the Ohio House of Representatives, but has hit a roadblock in a Senate committee. She tells statehouse correspondent Bill Cohen the new push from the feds could help remove that roadblock.

That is State Representative Nancy Garland. Critics of her proposal to ban texting-while-driving in Ohio say it doesn’t make sense to single out one distraction for drivers when there are many. The critics also say – current traffic laws can be used to ticket motorists who are distracted by their own texting, or by anything else.