As the bill sponsor of the Hands-Free North Carolina Act, I wanted to take a moment to clear up a few things so both constituents and fellow lawmakers know what this proposed bill really does — and what it doesn’t do.
The current North Carolina law is simply not strong enough to stop the amount of people being killed by this senseless act. Over the past six months, I have heard from mothers, fathers, sons and daughters who have lost someone due to distracted-driving crashes. These stories are heartbreaking, and while I can’t take the pain they feel away, I can do something to hopefully prevent another family from facing tragedy. As a father, the thought of my losing my child or someone I love to a distracted driver is unimaginable.
The law enforcement community has come forward to tell us that the current law banning distracted driving is simply not enforceable, because officers can’t determine if someone was texting while driving or simply dialing a phone number or using GPS.
As your representative, it is my job to protect my constituents and be their voice. According to a recent poll, nearly 80 percent of North Carolinians feel that distracted driving is such a significant issue that the legislature needs to pass a law to rein it in.
Statistics show the worst offenders of using a phone are teens, which is why this new law would prohibit the use of a wireless communication device altogether, except to follow a route on a navigation system, as long as the address information was entered prior to operating the vehicle or in an emergency situation.
Last year Georgia became the 16th state to adopt hands-free legislation and since the law went into effect July 1, has already seen positive impact on its roads. An insurance expert told state lawmakers last week that Georgia traffic fatalities, injuries, and collision claims have fallen, thanks in part to the state’s new distracted driving law. Traffic fatalities fell 3.4 percent in 2018, and we can do the same or even better in North Carolina if we pass similar legislation.
We also found that of the other 15 states that have similar hands-free legislation, 13 have seen a 16 percent decrease in traffic fatalities within two years of passing legislation.
The hands-free legislation is not meant to take away your rights to be talking via your hands-free device; you can still make a one touch phone call and you can use GPS to help navigate. However, this law does prevent you from texting, watching YouTube, streaming Netflix, or looking at your Facebook feed while driving. This is a common-sense law that will save lives and I now ask North Carolina legislators to join me in seeing the true value in our civic duty to save lives in North Carolina.
Beyond just making it illegal, we have to make distracted driving socially unacceptable. We have to make it understood that just because our handheld electronic devices and phones are valuable technology that can serve a useful purpose, it doesn’t mean we should be using them while we’re driving. It is now our life’s mission to educate people about the dangers of distracted driving and change the public’s perception about what is acceptable. I hope you will continue to educated your family and friends about putting the phone down and eyes on the road.
Rep. Kevin Corbin, R-Macon, represents N.C. House District 120 (Cherokee, Clay, Graham and Macon counties).
