In the shadow of Memorial Day’s crash that happened when a woman was texting while driving and caused a garbage truck worker to lose his leg, Louisiana Representative Mike Huval tells WWL’s Tommy Tucker that his bill prohibiting a driver from holding a cell phone while driving aims at preventing such tragedies.
“As long as I use it in a safe manner and not have it in my hand,” said Huval. “See, that way it satisfies the need for a phone because you can still use just use it in a safe manner, why not do that?”
Representative Huval says he had to make some amendments to the bill but he thinks it will make a difference.
“There is a two-year sunset on this bill, which I think is good, it was amended this year,” said Huval co-author of House Bill 376. “I think this will work well but in the event there are concerns, there is an opportunity to just let it sunset away, or if it is doing some good, which I really feel it will do, it continues.”
Huval says the bill also includes changes that protect against the bill being used to racially profile drivers.
“So, in order to give protection against that, the NCOIL model, the National Council of Insurance Legislator’s model, includes language that when a person is stopped their race must be included in the violation,” said Huval. “That information will be gathered and every year that information will be given to the governor, the speaker of the House, and the Senate president so they can review it to see if there is any racial profiling going on.”
After making the amendments, House Bill 376 heads to a Senate Committee for review.
