A bill that would have banned the use of hand-held cellular phones while driving was killed yesterday by a House of Delegates committee.
The Commerce and Government Matters Committee voted 14-7 to reject the bill proposed by Del. John S. Arnick, a Baltimore County Democrat.
The bill would have made Maryland the first state to adopt such a ban.
Advocates had hoped lawmakers would be swayed by a 1999 case in which a car went off the Capital Beltway and killed a New York couple. The Fort Washington driver was talking on his cell phone when the accident occurred.
