Texas lawmakers in a transportation committee say they want to make 2015 the year Texas bans texting and driving statewide.
Lawmakers did approve a ban in the past, but it didn’t become the law. At a public hearing of the House Transportation Committee, the bill’s author, State Rep. TomCraddick, R-Midland, pointed out that more than 40 states have passed a ban on texting and driving, and so have nearly 40 cities in Texas.
Craddick said in 2013, texting-related crashes cost the state more than $1 billion because of medical care and increased insurance premiums, for example.
Some people who spoke in favor of the bill had more personal reasons for their support.
"She went off the road and rolled her truck, and died later that day because of her choice to pull that phone out in the car," said Jeanne Brown’s daughter, Alex Brown, died during her senior year of high school. "I’m not trying to pull on your emotions please forgive me, but it’s been over five years, she’s not coming back."
The bill would ban sending, writing or reading a text while driving, but it wouldn’t scrap stricter rules passed by cities in Texas.
A similar bill passed the Legislature in 2011, but former Gov. Rick Perry vetoed it, calling it government overreach.
