Ohio Cellphone/Texting Legislation

Cincinnati.com this morning notes Ohio lawmakers poised to vote on a bill that aims to keep cellphones, iPads or other electronic devices out of the hands of teen drivers when they are behind the wheel, with the Senate scheduled to vote on the measure today after a transportation committee made a series of changes that include loosening a proposed statewide texting ban on adult drivers. [ Text and Analysis of Ohio HB 99 ]

The Governors’ Highway Safety Association website, "a unique partnership among federal, state and local governments to address the problem of unsafe highways" created by The Highway Safety Act of 1966 which established the State and Community Highway Safety Grant Program (U.S.C. Title 23, Section 402), commonly known as the "402 program," has a compilation of "State Cell Phone Use and Texting While Driving Laws" current as of this month. Kentucky and Indiana both already ban cell phones & texting by all drivers as primary law.

Last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called for a federal law to ban talking on a cell phone or texting while driving any type of vehicle on any road in the country at a distracted-driving summit in San Antonio, Texas, that drew doctors, advocates and government officials, saying tough federal legislation was the only way to deal with what he called a "national epidemic."