Distracted Driving Legislation Introduced in South Dakota Senate

NEWS from AAA South Dakota, Feb. 11 – Across the country, efforts to curtail distracted driving have gained momentum; today South Dakota has become the most recent state to target the auto safety issue.  The Senate bill #1133 would prohibit the use of wireless devices while driving for young drivers.  It’s a bill AAA South Dakota strongly supports.
This legislation would amend the current South Dakota law to prohibit the use of cell phones while driving, including texting, for the state’s most inexperienced drivers, ages 14 to16.   Emergency calls and GPS devices would not be banned. 

The number one threat to the life of a teenager in South Dakota is a motor vehicle crash.  And drivers who text and drive are six times more likely to get into an accident than drivers who do not text while driving.  In fact, a driver talking on a cell phone is more impaired than one with a blood alcohol level exceeding 0.08, the legal limit according to the December study in the journal Human Factors. This is why Safe and Sound South Dakota, the auto safety coalition created in 2009 that is promoting the bill, believes the cell phone ban is necessary, life-saving legislation. 

A survey of cell phone users found younger drivers ages 16 to 24 use hand-held cell phones at a higher rate than older drivers, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Younger drivers are less experienced at multi-tasking while driving and are therefore more easily distracted than their older counterparts.

On average, more than 10 teenagers are killed daily in motor vehicle crashes in the United States and even more are seriously injured and permanently disabled as the result of teen driver error.  Shockingly, one out of every five 16-year-olds will be involved in a car, accident according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  

“This cell phone ban will play an important role in keeping our roads safe, but we know cell phone bans are most effective when law enforcement and parents work together,” said Chuck Mai, AAA Vice President of Public Affairs.  “Parents play a critical role in enforcing these laws and serving as good role models for their children.”