Triple A Co-hosted the Summit on "Distracted Driving"

Senator Bill Diamond Has Bipartisan Support For His Proposed Bill

By Carol McCracken  (Post # 717)

Maine is the only New England state that does not have a law banning text messaging when driving a car, said State Senator Bill Diamond (D) earlier today.  And, if Diamond, gets his way, that will no longer be true.  That’s because the former Secretary of State will be submitting a bill in the coming days that would make that dangerous behavior against the law; like 30 other states in the country have done, Diamond said following a day long summit today at the Ocean Gateway at the bottom of the Hill.

The purpose of todays Summit on the Dangers of Texting While Driving was to raise the public’s awareness of the problem as well as  to promote the legislation.   Diamond said the legislation has not yet been assigned a number and he hopes that it will be printed in the next few days.   The Senator said there is a lot of  bipartisan support for the bill’s passage and so he is confident that it will pass.

At todays Summit at Ocean Gateway, about 150 people attended.  Law enforcement, driving school personnel, safety people and about 40 students were included in the Summit.  Rayette Hudon, traffic safety director, for Triple A said,  said the company offers many programs on safety in the area, but this is the first summit on “distracted driving.  It was a great turnout.  People were really engaged,” she said following the Summit this afternoon.

Diamond’s proposed legislation is entitled “An Act to Prohibit Texting While Driving” and may be tracked on the state’s website.  The bill will go to the Traffic Committee of which Diamond is a member. 

Please see post # 715 herein, dated February 15th for more background on the subject.