ATLANTA — A North Georgia lawmaker wants to tweak the state’s four-year-old hands-free law to allow drivers to pick up their phones while at a dead stop, such as at a traffic light or stop sign.
Under the current law, it is illegal to pick up your phone at any time behind the wheel unless during an emergency.
“You’re not going to cause an accident sitting still,” said State Sen. Frank Ginn, R-Danielsville.
Ginn proposes changing the hands-free law to make it legal for you to pick up your phone when at a dead stop.
He believes many Georgians are doing it anyway. Why not make it legal?
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“I’m all for public safety,” Ginn said. “I support my law enforcement community. I just want to make sure we’re doing something that helps our Georgia citizens not to be lawbreakers. I get a lot of complaints from people that have gotten cited because they picked up their phone at a dead stop, and they’re not the reason we’re having accidents. It’s moving when you have the accident.”
State Rep. John Carson, R-Marietta, wrote the original hands-free law.
He told Channel 2′s Richard Elliot that he was withholding comment until after he was able to further study the proposed changes.
Saleem Williams is a truck driver who sees people texting and driving every day.
He doesn’t like the idea of making it legal at stop lights. He thinks it’s just too dangerous.
“If somebody dies, they’re dead for the rest of their lives,” Williams said. “A message is not important. People tend to be absent minded when they’re looking down at their phone. They’re waiting a long time, and somebody behind them is getting a little frustrated, and it can cause some road rage, because somebody’s in a hurry to go nowhere, and I just think it’s a bad idea.”
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