1.This Act may be cited as the
Avoiding Life-Endangering and Reckless
Texting by Drivers Act of 2009
or the ALERT Drivers Act
.
2.Congress finds that—
(1)cell phones and
other electronic devices are not only instrumentalities and channels of
interstate commerce, but products of interstate commerce;
(2)for those reasons,
regulation of the use of cellular telephones or other electronic devices to
send text messages is covered by the power of Congress to regulate interstate
commerce as enumerated in article I, section 8 of the Constitution;
(3)additionally, the
Supreme Court held in South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203 (June 23, 1987), that
Congress may condition Federal highway funding on State compliance with certain
conditions;
(4)people in the
United States are using cellular telephones and other personal electronic
devices to send text messages or emails, more commonly known as
texting,
with increasing frequency;
(5)according to the
New York Times, more than 110,000,000,000 text messages were sent in the United
States during the month of December 2008 alone, a tenfold increase in just 3
years;
(6)texting and
portable email are valuable to consumers, businesses, and private individuals
throughout the United States, but those services also create an extreme risk
when used by individuals operating motor vehicles;
(7)a
2008 study by Nationwide Insurance found that 20 percent of drivers in the
United States send text messages while operating motor vehicles;
(8)according to a
study by Car and Driver Magazine, texting while driving is more dangerous than
driving while intoxicated;
(9)a
recent study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found operators of
motor vehicles who sent text messages while driving had a collision risk that
was 23 times greater while texting as compared to the risk when the operators
were not texting;
(10)another study by
the University of Utah found that college students using a driving simulator
were 8 times more likely to have an accident while texting;
(11)after a serious
accident occurred on the Boston public trolley system in May 2009, the trolley
operator was found to have been texting his girlfriend at the time of the
accident;
(12)the problem of
texting while driving has been recognized across the country;
(13)as of the date of
enactment of this Act, 14 States and the District of Columbia ban all drivers
from texting while operating motor vehicles, and 11 other states have a
modified ban on texting while driving;
(14)the risks created
by texting while driving are increasing nationwide as the use of texting
increases nationwide;
(15)it is necessary,
therefore, for Congress to act to protect the safety of all people in the
United States on highways and roads in the United States; and
(16)Federal
legislation to address the problem of texting while driving is necessary to
ensure minimum standards of protection across the country, in the same manner
as the national minimum drinking age provides a uniform standard of
protection.
3.Operation of
motor vehicles while texting
(a)Chapter 1 of title 23, United States Code, is amended by
adding at the end the following:
167.Operation of
motor vehicles while texting
(a)In
this section:
(1)Hand-held mobile
telephone
(A)The term hand-held mobile telephone means a
mobile telephone or other portable electronic communication device with which a
user engages in a call or writes, sends, or reads a text message using at least
1 hand.
(B)The
term hand-held mobile telephone does not include a
vehicle-integrated, voice-activated device.
(2)The term motor vehicle has the meaning given
the term in section 154(a).
(3)The term text message includes a text-based
message, instant message, electronic message, and email.
(4)Writing;
sending; readingThe terms writing,
sending, and reading, with respect to a text message,
mean the manual entry, sending, or retrieval of a text message, respectively,
to communicate with any person or device.
(b)Withholding of
apportionments for noncompliance
(1)On October 1 of the second fiscal year beginning after
the date of promulgation of the regulations under subsection (d), and annually
thereafter, the Secretary shall withhold 25 percent of the amount required to
be apportioned to any State under each of paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of
section 104(b) for the fiscal year if the Secretary determines that the State
does not meet the requirement under paragraph (2) as of that date.
(2)A
State shall meet the requirement under this paragraph if the State has enacted
and is enforcing a law that—
(A)except in the
event of an emergency, prohibits an operator of a moving motor vehicle from
writing, sending, or reading a text message using a hand-held mobile telephone;
and
(B)requires, upon
conviction of a violation of that prohibition, the imposition of penalties in
accordance with the requirements for minimum penalties described in the
regulations promulgated under subsection (d).
(c)Recovery of
funds withheldAll funds withheld under this section from
apportionment to a State for 1 or more fiscal years shall be available for
apportionment to the State immediately upon a determination by the Secretary
that the State meets the requirement under paragraph (2).
(d)Not
later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary
shall promulgate regulations to carry out this section, including requirements
for minimum penalties for violations of the prohibition under subsection
(b)(2)(A) that—
(1)specify a minimum
penalty for a first offense; and
(2)stipulate that
penalties shall be graduated for repeated
offenses.
.
(b)The analysis for chapter 1 of title 23, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end of the items relating to that chapter the
following:
167. Operation of motor vehicles while
texting.
.