A bill to ban texting and sending e-mail while driving was approved and voted out of the Legislature’s Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security Wednesday.
Police Commissioner Novelle Francis and Myrna George, assistant director of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles both endorsed the bill, arguing it may save lives.
"We have had over 4,000 crashes thus far this year," Francis said. "On St. Croix alone there have been over 234 a month, on St. Thomas more than 400 a month and on St. John over 50 a month, so vehicle crashes are certainly an area of concern. … It is not only texting, but people combing their hair, reading the paper, drinking coffee while driving and while we cannot legislate everything, we do need to limit distractions for driving."
George painted a stark image of the amount of time a person is distracted from the road if they attempt to text while driving.
"The required minimum time to receive, type and send a text message is typically ten seconds," she said. "Vehicles travelling at 30 miles per hour will travel approximately 440 feet in ten seconds."
She suggested the senators imagine an elderly person or school child crossing the street while a car is hurtling along with a driver distracted for such a length of time.
A bill to require minors to carry identification and present those IDs to the police when asked was held in committee to work out further details regarding what sort of IDs should be used, who should issue them, and whether the punishment for not having one should be the same as for school truancy or curfew violations.
The texting bill was forwarded to the Committee on Rules and Judiciary and the ID bill held in committee by unanimous votes. Voting yea were Sens. Alvin Williams, Shawn-Michael Malone, Terrence "Positive" Nelson, Sammuel Sanes, Patrick Sprauve and Celestino White. Sen. Wayne James was absent.