Texting while driving, an increasingly popular practice that has caused high-profile accidents in recent years, could result in a $500 fine under a ban approved Wednesday by the Maryland House of Delegates and earlier by the Senate.
Gov. Martin O'Malley has said he will sign off on the prohibition, which would take effect Oct. 1, adding Maryland to a short but growing list of states that bar sending messages while behind the wheel. This year, 33 states were considering similar proposals, according to AAA, and Virginia's governor signed a ban into law Monday.
The House plan prohibits writing or sending text messages from a phone or hand-held electronic device, such as a BlackBerry, while a driver is in travel lanes - even if stopped at a red light or in bumper-to-bumper traffic. But unlike the Senate version, it does not outlaw reading messages.
Also exempted in the House bill are text messages sent to a 911 system, a means of communication with emergency responders that could grow over time. It also specifically allows the use of direction-finding global positioning systems.
The two chambers must work out their differences before the General Assembly session ends in 11 days.
Although the proposal received overwhelming support, clearing the House by a vote of 133-2 and the Senate by a margin of 43-4, it came after lawmakers again rejected a prohibition on drivers using phones and hand-held communications devices and an even broader effort to clamp down on distracted driving.
Del. James E. Malone Jr., a Democrat who represents Baltimore and Howard counties, said lawmakers might be divided about how to handle cell phone usage in cars but they recognize text-messaging while driving as "a clear hazard." He said he has seen polls showing that more than nine in 10 respondents think the practice should be illegal.
"You need to keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road," he said.
Malone said lawmakers chose to forbid driver texting even from stopped vehicles in order to keep traffic flowing. "We didn't want people sitting at a light sending off five messages," he said. However, the ban would not prevent someone pulled over on the shoulder from sending a message.
In legislative hearings this year, Maryland residents and police described horrific accidents caused by drivers sending text messages. Russell and Kim Hurd of Harford County recalled how their daughter and another young woman were killed in a pileup near Orlando, Fla., caused by a truck driver distracted by a text message.
