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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 12, 2018 12:56 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator John C. Rafferty, Jr. and Sen. John P. Sabatina, Jr. |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Doubling Distracted Driving Fines in Work Zones |
| In the near future, we intend to introduce legislation to double the distracted driving fine from $50 to $100 in an active work zone or on a highway safety corridor. Distracted driving continues to pose a danger on our roadways, which is exacerbated when drivers fail to disregard texting-while-driving on complex roadway segments including an active work zone and a highway safety corridor. Currently, fines are doubled in active work zones and highway safety corridors for a multitude of highway-safety violations such as driving under the influence, speeding, careless driving, etc. This legislation will compliment other distracted driving awareness bills currently introduced in the Senate – Senate Bill 648 (relating to distracted driving awareness plate) and Senate Bill 786 (relating to cell phone ban for novice drivers). In 2015, there were 14,810 crashes involving a distracted driver. Additionally, from 2011-2015, there were approximately 280 distracted driving fatal crashes or an average of 57 fatal crashes per year – a statistic that has remained stagnant in this period. Please join us in co-sponsoring this legislation to strengthen our distracted driving laws and to protect highway workers while serving in the line of duty on our roadways. If you have any questions, please contact Nolan Ritchie, Senator Rafferty’s Office, at nritchie@pasen.gov or Jason Gerard, Senator Sabatina’s Office, at jgerard@pasenate.com. |
Introduced as SB1024