NEW YORK — New York motorists are about to see the penalty
for texting while driving increase from three points to five points against
their driving record, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday.
That would make it harsher than the penalty for driving up
to 20mph over the speed limit.
Cuomo said at Manhattan news conference Friday that he is
also proposing legislation that would impose tougher sanctions against
probationary and junior drivers for texting. Under the proposal, violators'
licenses would be suspended for 60 days after their first conviction.
"We want the message to be very clear to young drivers:
Don't do it and don't think about doing it," Cuomo said.
The penalties apply to any kind of cellphone activity while
driving.
Cuomo said that as the father of three teenage daughters he
knows how much young people love their phones, and he worries that they may
overestimate their own driving skills.
"The inexperience plus the distraction can be a deadly
combination. And that's what we want to stop," Cuomo said.
Ben Lieberman, whose 19-year-old son was killed in a car
crash in which the driver was using a cellphone, joined Cuomo at the news
conference at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and said drivers "need
to worry about the lives that are in their hands and not the cellphone in their
hands."
State police will begin stepped-up enforcement of the laws
against texting while driving on Saturday, Superintendent Joseph D'Amico said.
Cuomo said the number of cellphone-related car crashes in
New York state increased by 143 percent between 2005 and 2011.
He said he spends a lot of time in a car and he sees New
Yorkers texting while driving every day.
"It's amazing how chronic and how prevalent it
is," Cuomo said.
No comments:
Post a Comment