{"id":5481,"date":"2011-06-18T13:53:29","date_gmt":"2011-06-18T19:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/?p=5481"},"modified":"2011-06-24T00:03:20","modified_gmt":"2011-06-24T06:03:20","slug":"texting-while-driving-bill-vetoed-by-governor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/?p=5481","title":{"rendered":"Texting While Driving Bill Vetoed by Governor"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>HB 242, passed by the 82nd Legislature, would have prohibited sending or reading text messages while driving. However, Gov. Perry vetoed HB 242 on June 17, 2011.<\/div>\n<div>That means the only State-wide prohibition on the use of a cell phone while driving remains the prohibition on the use of a cell phone in an active school zone. Various cities, including San Antonio and Austin, do have local ordinances that prohibit &#8220;texting while driving.&#8221; These ordinances are not affected by the Governor&#8217;s veto of HB 242 and remain in effect.<\/div>\n<div>The Governor issued the following statement explaining his veto of HB 242:<\/div>\n<div><!--more--><\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<div><em>Texting while driving is reckless and irresponsible. I support measures that make our roads safer for everyone, but House Bill 242 is a government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults. Current law already prohibits drivers under the age of 18 from texting or using a cell phone while driving. I believe there is a distinction between the overreach of House Bill 242 and the government&#8217;s legitimate role in establishing laws for teenage drivers who are more easily distracted and laws providing further protection to children in school zones.<\/em><\/div>\n<div><em> <\/em><\/div>\n<p><em><\/p>\n<div>The keys to dissuading drivers of all ages from texting while driving are information and education. I recommend additional education on this issue in driving safety and driver&#8217;s education courses, public service ads, and announcements, and I encourage individuals and organizations that testified in favor of the anti-texting language included in this bill to work with state and local leaders to educate the public of these dangers.<\/div>\n<p><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div>The sponsors of the &#8220;no texting while driving bill,&#8221; Rep. Tom Craddick and Sen. Judith Zaffirini, worked closely with the West Gulf Division&#8217;s Legislative team to ensure that HB 242 would not have adversely affected mobile Amateur Radio operators. The West Gulf Division thanks both Rep. Craddick and Sen. Zaffirini for their support.<\/div>\n<div><em>John Robert Stratton<\/em><\/div>\n<div>N5AUS<\/div>\n<div>West Gulf Division Vice Director<\/div>\n<div>West Gulf Division Legislative Action Chairman<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HB 242, passed by the 82nd Legislature, would have prohibited sending or reading text messages while driving. However, Gov. Perry vetoed HB 242 on June 17, 2011. That means the only State-wide prohibition on the use of a cell phone while driving remains the prohibition on the use of a cell phone in an active [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[645,646,647,644,648],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5481"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5481"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5513,"href":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5481\/revisions\/5513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}