WASHINGTON — If you live in Virginia, you may need a Bluetooth for your cell phone. The state could follow D.C. and Maryland in banning the use of handheld cell phones while driving.
In 2013, Virginia made it illegal to text while driving. Now, a state lawmaker wants to ban drivers from talking on their handheld cell phones when behind the wheel.
Virginia Delegate Rich Anderson, (R-51) from Prince William County, is responsible for the bill that eliminated texting while driving.
“I do think there’s a dramatic need for this bill,” Anderson says of his proposed handheld ban. “So my intention is to carry it back next year. I had made a pledge to families who’ve lost loved ones in these cell phone accidents on the road that I would do so, so I intend to follow up on it.””
Anderson’s bill failed in this year’s General Assembly session. “I intend to continue to devote energy each year, and someday we will see it become law in [the] Commonwealth of Virginia.”
Still, it’s tough to enforce the texting law; when stopped by police, some drivers say they weren’t texting.
It’s easier for police officers to catch drivers talking on cell phones in their hands.
“This is a new concept for Virginia,” Anderson says of his proposed law. “So it’s like any other bill, which is new in concept: Sometimes, it takes several efforts in the General Assembly to move it through.”
