Full-day K worth Jessamine taxpayers' dollars

Comment by Shark88: Friday, September 3

Ms. Dragomir, you can donate from your own personal funds to help the schools out. It is a free co...read more...

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Comment by Shark88: Friday, September 3

So the state is forcing the county to build a justice center? When does that have to be built?...read more...

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Comment by tweldon: Thursday, September 2

For weeks I have grown so accustomed to writing acerbic retorts to Leland Conway’s columns with wh...read more...

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House Bill 43 moved out of the Kentucky House of Representatives with an 80-16 vote last week. Now the bill goes before the state Senate. HB 43 would ban texting by all drivers while a vehicle is in motion; the bill also would ban use of cell phones for drivers under the age of 18 while in a moving vehicle.

In January, state Rep. Bob Damron felt that the bill had a solid shot of passing out of the House.

“A bill banning texting while driving probably has its best chance of passing ever,” state Rep. Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville, said in January. “There’s been 17 or 18 states that’s already enacted a bill. I talked with the chairman of transportation this morning (Tuesday), and I think he’s going to hear the legislation, and I look for it probably to be relatively encompassing where it would prohibit everybody.”

While Damron was optimistic, his counterpart in the Senate wasn’t as confident.

“I think the texting is a dangerous situation while you are driving,” Sen. Tom Buford said in January. “(But) I think that the Senate is going to be slow to respond to that. I support a law against texting.”

On Tuesday, Buford said the bill passing the Senate was a toss-up at this point.

“I think that the texting bill probably has about a 50/50 chance of passing the Senate,” he said. “There are a lot of e-mails coming to the senators to oppose it — just individuals, no particular group, calling to oppose it.”

The fact that the bill doesn’t completely limit the use of cell phones gives it some legs, Buford said.

“I personally don’t have a problem with it,” he said. “I know that we’re not going to take it to the point of banning cell phones.”

Buford said he understands that texting can be a distraction, but he also pointed out that many other everyday things distract drivers of all ages.

“I don’t have texting on my phone, but I don’t see how one would be able to type that out while driving,” he said. “But then again, individuals are out there driving around eating hamburgers and drinking soft drinks and even smoking in cars; if you drop your cigarette, that becomes somewhat of a distraction, and it becomes a necessity to find it so you don’t have a fire or burn your leg.”

HB 43 has not come up for a vote in the Senate as of Wednesday. Buford was unaware of when it would be up for vote but speculated that it would be a couple weeks before it does.

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