New curb sought for teens who drive, text
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com May 4, 2011 6:40PM
Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM
Cell phones sold in Chicago after Jan. 1 would have to be equipped with a special feature that allows parents to block kids from texting while driving, under a crackdown proposed Wednesday by the City Council’s most powerful alderman.
Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) proposed the surprise restriction at the last meeting of the old City Council in an effort to stop what he calls an “epidemic” of texting while driving, much of it involving young drivers.
“This law would put parents in the driver’s seat when it comes to stopping teens from texting while driving,” Burke said in a written statement.
“By giving parents the option of temporarily turning off their kids’ texting ability, we could potentially save many lives and many people from being injured on our roadways.”
Texting while driving is already illegal in Chicago and around the state, but 40 percent of those surveyed recently by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority said they didn’t know about the ban.
Burke further argued that teens are thumbing their noses at the ban to feed their addiction to texting.
Twenty-eight percent of young people surveyed between the ages of 16 and 19 have admitted to texting while driving. If that many are admitting it, you can just about imagine how many are actually doing it.
Burke noted that in 2009, 5,474 people were killed nationwide as a direct result of distracted driving. An estimated 994 of those people died in traffic accidents involving cell-phone use.
The City Council has been at the forefront of the crackdown on distracted driving. In July 2005, Chicago became the nation’s largest city at the time to prohibit motorists from using cell phones without a hands-free device.
Three years later, the City Council blazed another trail by banning texting while driving.
The new ordinance states, “No person shall sell, offer or expose for sale ... cellular devices ... unless said cellular devices are equipped with a feature that allows an authorized user to disable the data services while the devices are in a motor vehicle being driven at a speed greater than 5 miles per hour.”
The prohibition would apply to the seller. Violators would be punished by fines ranging from $100 to $500 for each offense. The ordinance would take effect on Jan. 1.
The ordinance was co-sponsored by Aldermen Michelle Harris (8th), Anthony Beale (9th), Ray Suarez (31st) and Richard Mell (33rd). It also applies to other devices, including tablet computers and text pagers.
“Texting while driving increases the risk of getting into a crash by 400 percent,” Suarez said. Quoting Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, Suarez added, “When you text and drive, no one is at the wheel.”
Comments Click here to view or make a comment