WASHINGTON-The District of Columbia in July is expected to join New York and a handful of other localities that require drivers to use hands-free devices when driving and talking after a bill passed the city council Tuesday .
The bill calls for $100 fines, but this could be suspended for the first violation if proof of purchase of a hands-free device is shown. No points will be added to the driving record.
The measure must now pass the council a second time, be signed by Mayor Tony Williams (D) and be approved by Congress, but all of this is expected, said Shana Heilbron, spokeswoman for D.C. Councilman Harold Brazil (D), an advocate for the bill.
Heilbron said amendments to the bill could occur when it is brought up for a second reading Jan. 6, but “usually if it hasn’t been amended, it won’t be.” Williams is likely to support the bill because there have been no objections from the mayor’s office, she added.
Because D.C. is a federal city and not part of any state, Congress must review all legislation. But if Congress does not object to the bill or fails to act on it, it will be effective July 1.
The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association was not pleased. “There’s no research that shows hands free is necessarily safer. Nobody is proposing to ban to-go coffee cups or radios in cars. Those are not just equal, too, but more dangerous. Cell phones are way down the list,” said CTIA spokeswoman Kimberly Kuo.
A countrywide driving while talking ban in the United Kingdom went into effect Monday.
