Text Messaging While Driving May One Day Bring $100 Fine

Motorists who key text messages into their cell phones while driving in New York State could be slapped with $100 fines under a new bill.

It is already against the law for drivers to talk on their cell phones without a hands-free device.

State Senate Republicans passed legislation yesterday prohibiting drivers from writing, sending, or reading text messages, unless they are able to do so without using at least one hand, according to the bill language.

A Democrat in the Assembly has also sponsored the measure, which has yet to pass the chamber.

Other states have passed similar restrictions on text messaging after reports of fatal accidents involving motorists typing messages into their phones just before collision.

Last year, five Rochester girls who had just graduated from high school were killed when the SUV that one of them was driving swerved into incoming traffic, slammed into a tractor-trailer, and burst into flames.

Reports came out later that a phone belonging to the girl behind the wheel had sent a text message two minutes before the crash. She was also reportedly speeding on the two-lane highway.

"A person simply cannot drive attentively when searching for the needed letters or symbols for texting. Concentration on a text message rather than the road leads to swerving or lane drifting, tailgating, cutting off another driver or hitting another car," the bill memo states.