Florida Senators have voted overwhelmingly in a 34 to 4 vote to ban texting while driving in the state.

The bill, SB 448, seeks to ban the use of electronic wireless devices, like cell phones for reading or writing text messages and email or surfing the Internet while driving. Texting has become a serious problem especially among youth drivers across the country, including in Florida, and is seen as the cause for an increasing percentage of automobile accidents.

Penelope Auguste, a Coral Springs resident, said she has written several letters to local and state representatives urging them to pass a law banning texting as well as talking on cell phones while driving. “My 20-year-old daughter and a neighbor’s son had separate accidents while driving and either texting or speaking on their cell phones. The practice of texting, especially, is a serious traffic problem, which must be banned. I applaud this bill, and hope it becomes law.”

The provisions of the bill would make texting a secondary offense. Drivers would not be directly stopped if they are seen by a law enforcement officer to be in the act of texting. Rather, the driver would have to be first stopped for another traffic office, like speeding or careless driving, and cited if they were found to be using the electronic wireless device for texting, email, or surfing the Internet.

The first offense would attract a $30 fine plus court costs, and should the driver commit a second offense within five years of the first, the fine would be increased to $60 fine plus court cost.

Six points would be added to an offender’s drivers license if he or she is an accident, and it is proven that the accident was caused by texting or sending emails. Points added to a driver’s license for a traffic offence, usually result in an increase of his or her auto insurance.

The prospect of the bill reaching Governor Charlie Crist’s desk is uncertain, since a similar bill has been held up in the Florida House Finance and Tax Council for weeks. The chairwoman of that council, Republican Ellyn Bogdanoff, unlike Crist, does not favor the bill and has said there should be better ways to deal with driver distractions. She also said perpetual advancing technology could soon make texting outdated. The bill has to be passed by the Florida House to be advanced for signing into law.

Texting is banned in several European countries, and in England a very graphic promotional campaign depicting the tragic accidents that can be caused by texting while driving has been appearing on that nation’s television programs. Here in the U.S, 19 other states and Washington, D.C. have banned texting while driving.

Auguste plans to continue lobbying for the passage of the TWD law. “Legislators who oppose the bill must be made aware of the very real risks and dangers that texting while driving presents to our children. No Florida legislator who is a parent should object to this bill.”