Corbett signs statewide texting-while-driving ban

Associated Press

CAMP HILL, Pa.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett on Wednesday signed into law a prohibition on texting while driving, although it will be four months before it takes effect.

“There is no text message in the world that is worth the value of human life,” Corbett said at the bill signing in a phone store in the Harrisburg suburbs.

The bill makes it a primary offense, allowing police to pull over drivers they see violating the law. It carries a potential $50 fine.

The law bans sending, reading or writing a text-based message from a wireless phone, personal digital assistant, smartphone, portable or mobile computer or similar devices.

Corbett said there were 13,790 crashes and 66 fatalities in Pennsylvania last year that were caused by distracted driving.

Sen. Robert Tomlinson, R-Bucks, the bill’s prime sponsor, called texting the most dangerous form of distracted driving.

Major George Bivens said Pennsylvania State Police will be able to enforce the law by observation, interviewing drivers and passengers, and in cases where needed, obtaining a driver’s cellphone records.

Provisions that would have also banned the use of cellphones by drivers without hands-free devices were taken out of the bill before passage, but may be addressed in separate legislation.