The state’s new law targeting distracted drivers sure is annoying folks.<\/p>\n
What’s riled them is not so much the outright ban on use of any hand-held cellphone or electronic device while behind the wheel, a violation that could result in a $136 ticket.<\/p>\n
It’s the part where people could get pulled over for speeding, as an example, and slapped with an additional penalty if the officer noticed them munching on a burger or lighting a cigarette or drinking a cup of coffee in the course of their lead-footed offense.<\/p>\n
A woman identified as Angela Cruze started an online petition July 21, two days before the law took effect, seeking a rewrite. Roughly 27,500 people had signed it by Wednesday morning with the tally climbing hourly.<\/p>\n
“Drinking coffee to stay awake and not crash is needed at 4 a.m. for my animal emergency nursing job,” wrote a petition signer identified as Heather Encina of Everett. “And even though I don’t smoke, they have the right to smoke in their own car, without children in there. These things do not cause accidents.”<\/p>\n
The law is well-intentioned but goes too far, many argued. Some noted if a driver becomes dehydrated, it puts their health and the safety of others on the road at risk.<\/p>\n
“This is a classic example of the spirit of the law becoming misguided to where it shifts from keeping the people safe, to controlling people,” wrote a person identified online as Adiah Swenson of Vancouver. “Not being able to eat, and especially drink, while driving is absurd and unreasonable.”<\/p>\n
The law does not specifically say you cannot eat or drink while driving.<\/p>\n
What it actually says in Section 3 is it is an infraction to “drive dangerously distracted.” That’s defined as engaging in “any activity not related to the actual operation of a motor vehicle in a manner that interferes with the safe operation of such motor vehicle on any highway.”<\/p>\n
Eating and drinking qualify. Beautifying yourself does, too. Rifling through a stack of CDs or picking a video for your children to watch in the backseat might as well. Even trying to get your dog to sit in a seat and not your lap could be grounds for an infraction.<\/p>\n
What’s critical to understand is this is a secondary offense. It can only be assessed if an officer pulls over a driver for committing another traffic offense such as speeding, erratic driving or talking on a hand-held cell phone.<\/p>\n
Once the petition gets 35,000 signatures, it will be delivered to Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, all members of the state Senate and Republican President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
A copy also should go to Rep. Dave Hayes, R-Camano Island, as he is the lawmaker responsible for this particular provision.<\/p>\n
Hayes, a sergeant with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, said electronic devices aren’t the only distraction for drivers, and thus use of them shouldn’t be the only activities subject to penalties.<\/p>\n
“A heck of a lot more people are crashing because they are reaching for a french fry or fiddling with the radio,” he said.<\/p>\n
He opposed any new new restrictions until language he drafted on driving while “dangerously distracted” was amended into the final version.<\/p>\n
Washington’s law may now be the nation’s broadest ban, Hayes said with pride. This will give law enforcement officers “more tools” to address distracted drivers, he said.<\/p>\n
And more ways to punish them.<\/p>\n