Ohio lawmakers seek to increase penalties for texting while driving

By Marc Kovac | April 24, 2017 at 12:05a.m.

COLUMBUS

Hang around the Statehouse long enough and you’re bound to run into Sharon Montgomery.

For the past 15 years or so, the suburban Columbus woman has been making regular trips to Capitol Square, meeting with lawmakers and testifying about the dangers of distracted driving.

She’s appeared before legislative committees dozens of times, recounting how another driver using his phone caused a three-car accident in 2000. After six months in intensive care, Montgomery’s husband died, and another driver was left permanently disabled.

And the perpetrator?

“The offender was charged with assured clear distance and mailed in his $75 fine,” Montgomery told the House’s Transportation and Public Safety Committee late last month.

Montgomery recounts the accident as she pushes for stiffer penalties and further crackdowns on distracted driving.

Among other changes, she’d like to see a change in state law to allow officers to stop drivers who are focused on their phones or other electronic devices while behind the wheel.

Though texting while driving is illegal in Ohio, the infraction is categorized as a secondary offense for adults, meaning officers can issue citations only if they catch drivers breaking other traffic laws.

State law prohibits teens (drivers younger than 18) from using any type of handheld electronic wireless communications device while driving. Those caught doing so face fines, plus a 60-day license suspension for a first offense and one-year suspension for subsequent offenses.

Since early 2013, when the texting law took effect, more than 1,600 people have been cited by the Ohio State Highway Patrol for texting or using electronic devices while driving, according to statistics compiled by troopers.

For 2015, 2016 and the first three months of this year, that number included 1,155 adults and 100 teens.

Franklin County, home to Ohio’s capital city of Columbus, had the highest number of adult tickets, 82. Mahoning County was second with 70, followed by Portage County (60), Warren County (53) and Cuyahoga County (51).

Nine counties, including Holmes, had no adult texting-while-driving violations, and nearly 40 had single-digit totals.

Since 2015, 29 adults in Trumbull County and five in Columbiana County have been cited for texting while driving, according to the Patrol.

Additionally, two teens in Trumbull County and three in Columbiana County were cited.

The numbers represent only drivers cited for breaking the texting or electronic devices laws and do not account for final convictions.

They also cover enforcement activities on state highways, interstates and other areas covered by the patrol and not citations issued by local law enforcement.

For perspective, the patrol had more than 1.4 million contacts with motorists last year alone, issuing 357,000-plus speeding tickets and 115,541 seat-belt citations in the process.

Lawmakers are considering new legislation that would increase penalties for drivers who are texting or are otherwise distracted while behind the wheel and break other traffic laws.

HB 95 would enable officers to cite perpetrators for “distracted driving” if it’s part of other traffic offenses. The enhanced penalty would be similar to what’s in place for people caught speeding in construction zones.

And with good reason. Last year, nearly 14,000 drivers in Ohio crashed while being distracted by something in their vehicles, whether other people or electronic devices, Lt. Ed Mejia of the state patrol staff said in testimony last month to the House’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

More than two dozen of those drivers were killed as a result, and such accidents caused nearly 7,300 injuries, Mejia said.