House Bill 99 sponsored by State Representative Nancy Garland was recently overwhelmingly passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 88 to 10, making it a shoo-in that Ohio is going to join 19 other states that have already implemented a similar law.

By IKE MGBATOGU

Contributing Writer

COLUMBUS – Pretty soon, drivers who ‘text and drive’ will think twice before doing that.

If the Ohio Senate gives its imprimatur, the practice of legally ‘texting while driving’ on the streets of Ohio will be a hazardous thing of the past.

House Bill 99 sponsored by State Representative Nancy Garland was recently overwhelmingly passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 88 to 10, making it a shoo-in that Ohio is going to join 19 other states that have already implemented a similar law.

Garland hoped for a speedy passage of her bill by the House when she introduced it a couple of months ago. And, she is pleased it passed with bipartisan support.

“I applaud the House for approving this measure,” said Garland, who represents the 20th district in Columbus. “Texting while driving is a major safety hazard that makes our roads unsafe for drivers, bikers and walkers,” she said, calling it a no-brainer given the overwhelming statistics supporting it.

“The numbers tell us this high-risk practice drastically increases the chance of accident, injury, and death for drivers who text and those around them,” said Garland.

And the numbers she is referring to came from the National Transportation Safety Administration, a group that tracks and monitors road accidents across the country.

According to the group, ‘texting while driving’ is two times more dangerous than drinking and driving. What’s worse, comparatively, the reaction time of drivers involved with ‘texting while driving’ is “35 percent” slower than it is for someone who smoked marijuana and “12 percent” slower than it is for drunk drivers.

A more graphic illustration from the AAA Foundation further underscores the perils of this.

According to the group, drivers who text and drive look away from the road by an average of 5 seconds, representing the time they spend typing, sending or reading text messages. That sums up to about the time it would take to travel the length of a football field.

Garland noted the ultimate fillip for this legislation came from Ohioans themselves.

“Over the past three years of working on this issue, I have heard from Ohioans from every corner of the state who have been involved in accidents or lost loved ones to a driver who was texting behind the wheel,” she said.

Under the proposed legislation, violation of the law would be a minor misdemeanor to carry a maximum fine of $150. But it would be a primary offense, which means that cops can stop and cite violating drivers just for that.

The law would still allow drivers to text while in their vehicles but only if the vehicles are standing still and pulled off the road.  Before going into effect, there would be a 6-month grace period to allow drivers time for transition and to be educated on the law.

Ohio is finally catching up with Columbus on this.

In 2010, Andrew Ginther, then Columbus City Councilman, now President of the council, spearheaded an effort to ban ‘texting while driving’ in the city.  At the time, he expressed interest in working with the state to craft a uniform legislation but state officials told him they were not ready.

So, Columbus moved forward and passed its own ‘texting while driving’ ban.

Now, Ohio is getting there.

Mgbatogu is a freelance writer and editor of Onumba.com based in Columbus.  He can be reached by email at Onumbamedia@yahoo.com.