New law prohibits hand-held cell phone use in school zones
Published 8:19 am Friday, December 29, 2017
- Star File Photo/Abby Morris-Frye State Rep. John Holsclaw Jr. was a primary of a bill to improve safety in school zones which became a new state law that will take effect on Jan. 1.
Several new laws will take effect across the state on January 1, 2018, and one of those new laws began as an effort by a local state legislator to help improve safety on the roadways.
Starting on Monday, it will now be a fineable offense to talk on a hand-held mobile telephone while driving through a marked school zone when a warning flasher or flashers are in operation. The new law does not prohibit drivers from using a cell phone if they are utilizing a hands-free device to do so.
Drivers are subject to a fine not to exceed $50 if they are found guilty of the new law.
State Representative John Holsclaw Jr., who represents part of Carter County, was the primary sponsor of the bill in the Tennessee House of Representatives. State Sen. Jim Tracy carried the Senate’s version of the bill.
“It started out not just in the school zones, but everywhere,” Holsclaw told the Elizabethton Star.
The original bills would have banned the use of cell phones while driving unless motorists used hands-free devices. However, as the companion bills made their way through the state legislature, the bills were amended to make the new law apply only to active school zones.
Holsclaw said while the bills did not gain enough support to pass as written, everyone in the legislature believed the change would be a good safety measure to implement for school zones.
“Basically, you eat the elephant one bite at a time,” Holsclaw said. “We are starting out in school zones and hope to expand it from there.”
“I’ve got some work to do, but I’m not going to stop,” he added. “Statewide, that’s the goal.”
Holsclaw said his motivation behind drafting the hands-free cellular use bill was to help improve safety on Tennessee’s roads.
“So many kids are having accidents and so many people are losing their lives because cell phones are such a distraction,” Holsclaw said.
According to studies, in 2016 a total of 24,743 motor vehicle accidents in the state of Tennessee involved distracted drivers.
“Distracted driving is such a problem, and to me in some ways it’s worse than DUI because everyone has a cell phone,” Holsclaw said.