Roberts: Bill to ban texting while driving in Arizona appears dead

For one brief, shining moment, it appeared that Arizona might, at long last, join 46 other states and impose a ban on texting while driving.

Or not, as it turns out.

Senate Transportation and Technology Chairman Bob Worsley, R-Mesa, says he won’t hear Senate Bill 1049 because he doesn’t think his fellow Republicans are ready for it.

“I don’t want to waste everybody’s time if it’s not going to pass,” Worsley told me on Monday.

The bill that could take its place

Instead, Worsley told me he will hear a bill on Tuesday aimed at barring teen drivers from texting – for a while, at least.  Senate Bill 1080 would bar teenage drivers from texting for the first six months after they get their driver’s license or until they turn 18.

Since 2007, Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, has been trying to outlaw the far-too-common practice of careening down Arizona’s roadways while texting, checking your Facebook status or otherwise fiddling with your phone when you’re supposed to be paying attention to what the heck you’re doing. (Driving, that is, not thumbing on a tiny keyboard.)

Since 2007, the Legislature has steadfastly rejected Farley’s ban on texting while driving. Never mind that your risk of getting into a crash or near-crash is 23 times greater if you're doing it, according to a 2009 study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

Never mind that a 2012 survey of AAA members in Arizona said that 92 percent support a ban on texting.

Then-Senate President Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, didn’t, and that was enough to kill the idea. But Biggs went to Washington this year, igniting hope that sanity might prevail at the Legislature, that Arizona might join 46 other states and Washington D.C., and impose a ban on texting while driving.

Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, is sponsoring this year’s ban on texting while driving, saying it’s “extremely dangerous and just crazy.”

But Kavanagh’s bill won’t even get a hearing. Instead, Sen. Karen Fann’s six-month moratorium on teen texting and driving will be heard at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Senate Hearing Room 1.

Fann's bill sends the wrong message

Count Susan Huff among the disappointed. Her father, Tom Hall, was hit and killed last year while riding his motorcycle, struck from behind by a driver who was busy looking for her cellphone as she barreled down the highway.

Huff says Fann’s bill sends the wrong message.

“This bill tells everyone that teens are the main source of the problem and that adults don't need to be held responsible for their own actions,” she told me.

Actually, teens wouldn’t be held accountable either, once they have a grand total of six months of driving experience.

Of course, no bill is ever dead until the Legislature adjourns, but Worsley’s decision not to given the blanket texting ban a hearing is a major setback.

Worsley says the bill hasn’t received a hearing in his four years at the Legislature and he figures a ban on teen texting is a good start.

“The body hasn’t dealt with this yet and I want to deal with it a little more conservatively and see how this goes with a less invasive ban. Then, based on what we learn and how our education plays out, maybe we’ll do more next year.”