In a matter of a few hours, Arizona lawmakers went from saying “maybe” to banning texting while driving to “not this time”.

The House voted against a bill that could have made texting while driving illegal in a split, 31-28 vote. House Bill 2312 was looking to outlaw distracted driving by requiring from accident investigators to look if an involved person was engaged in distracted driving at the time of the traffic accident.  While the House was initially in favor of HB 2312, the vote shows that some Representative had a change of thought after realizing that the bill could also apply to texting while driving.

There are still some hopes for the next few weeks. SB  1056, which would prohibit drivers with learner’s permits and drivers under 18 years old who have had their class G licenses for less than six months to use a cell phone, was approved by the Senate and is now awaiting a vote from the House. HB 2512, a proposition to ban texting while driving in Arizona, was given the green light by the House Transportation Committee in January and was also transmitted to the House.

In 2011, several texting bans were introduced in the Arizona Legislature, but none of them received approval from the House.

Source: KTAR, March 5, 2012

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1. Arizona Senate gives preliminary approval to texting while driving ban
2. Mourning father fights against texting while driving in Arizona
3. Georgia close to banning texting while driving
4. West Virginia Senate unanimously approves texting ban
5. Indiana to become 31st state to ban texting while driving