An Onondaga County legislator proposed a law Wednesday to ban text messaging while driving. Violation would carry a $150 fine.

The legislation, proposed by Patrick Kilmartin, R-Onondaga, would make reading, writing, sending or receiving a text message while driving a traffic-law violation, said Richard Lesniak, R-Lysander. The offense would result in a moving violation, and no points would be added to the offender’s license.

‘I think it’s needed. Technology has exceeded the law at this point,’ Lesniak said. ‘I think text messaging is worse than talking on a cell phone because you have to look down at the screen.’

The bill exempts police officers, emergency medical technicians and firefighters. The Legislature asked Kilmartin to reexamine that exemption, as well as the feasibility of banning drivers from receiving a text message, Lesniak said. Kilmartin did not return calls for comment.

‘The question is how do we control that? That’s something the individual wasn’t intending on doing,’ Lesniak said. ‘Everything else is within the control of the operator other than the receiving.’

The Legislature will revisit Kilmartin’s bill again on April 7 and will decide whether to adopt it.

County Executive Joanie Mahoney could veto the law if the Legislature passes it. Mahoney has not yet voiced an opinion, said Liza Lowery, a spokeswoman for the executive.

The Syracuse Police Department is not in favor of the proposed legislation, said Cpt. Shannon Trice, head of the traffic division. Trice said he agrees drivers should not text message, but the law leaves police in an awkward position.

‘I don’t think it’s a good law,’ Trice said. ‘It’s going to be virtually impossible to enforce.’

Trice said his officers give out around 2,000 tickets each year to drivers talking on their cell phones. If the text message ban passes, he said he probably will not instruct officers to carry out the law.

Trice said the SPD and the Onondaga County Sheriff’s department differ on their opinion about the bill, but declined to provide more details.

Michelle Bersani, , a senior graphic arts major, said she has text messaged behind the wheel of her Acura MDX in her hometown of Skaneateles, a city in Onondaga County. She said she sometimes checks her e-mail and writes back. Bersani said she believes the law could prevent drivers from causing accidents because they are busy looking at their phone.

‘I think a lot of people do but it’s dangerous. I’ve almost rear-ended people a bunch of times doing that,’ she said. ‘I just don’t know if it’s an enforceable law. I feel like there are other things to put our resources towards, in the city especially.’

She also questioned whether older drivers would be more likely to escape detection. Police may think only younger people text message, she said.

‘You don’t assume your grandmother driving down the road in her Lincoln Towncar could be texting,’ she said.

Lesniak said no incident in Onondaga County motivated the Legislature to consider the bill. But a 2007 crash near Rochester that killed five recent high school graduates was brought up, he said. Police in Monroe County believe text messaging played a role in that fatal accident.

Similar legislation exists in Schenectady, Suffolk, Nassau and Monroe counties. Oneida County, which neighbors Onondaga, is also currently looking at such a law, said Lesniak.

Ultimately, the County Legislature would like drivers to switch off their phones entirely when they drive, he said.

‘That’s really what should be happening,’ Lesniak said. ‘Obviously we know that doesn’t happen all the time.’

adbrow03@syr.edu

Published on March 16, 2009 at 12:00 pm