Emotional testimony in Pierre Tuesday as a legislative committee passes a bill to ban most texting while driving. It makes it a misdemeanor for a driver to compose, read or send an electronic message while the vehicle is moving or part of traffic. Several people testified about loved ones lost or injured because of texting while driving, among them Miss South Dakota Loren Valliancourt, who lost her brother in an accident caused by a texting driver…
Lieutenant James Johns of the Rapid City Police Department says this can be enforced and most South Dakotans will abide by the law.
[audio:http://prprt.itmwpb.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/688/2011/02/Texting2.mp3|titles=Texting2]
Ryan Kolbeck of the South Dakota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers provided the only testimony against the bill. He says there will be no way to know if someone is texting or using their phone for some other function…
[audio:http://prprt.itmwpb.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/688/2011/02/Texting3.mp3|titles=Texting3]
Exemptions are allowed for texting in an emergency. Senate Bill 71 passed on a six to one vote and now moves to the full Senate. The sponsors of a second bill asked that it be deferred so they could make changes to the measure.
(courtesy KJJQ, Brookings)