Legislation by California state Sen. Joe Simitian (D) that would ...
Legislation by California state Sen. Joe Simitian (D) that would hike fines for using a cellphone while driving appears to be a revenue grab, rather than good public policy, The Los Angeles Times said in an editorial. The bill…
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would increase the fine for a first offense from $20 to $50, and for a subsequent offense from $50 to $100. “The 2006 state law that bans using a hand-held cellphone while driving is spottily enforced and, judging from anecdotal evidence, widely disregarded; moreover, there’s no indication that its passage has had any impact on safety,” the paper said. “We've got to suspect that Simitian’s latest bill is more about raising money than improving public safety. We don’t have a problem with hiking the fine for texting while driving (a spectacularly reckless act), and we're open to laws that would genuinely reduce the risk of phone-related accidents. But relentless increases in traffic fines by cities and Sacramento are already turning California into a revenue- trap state. The Legislature should hang up on the hands- free bill.”