Submission + - Washington State Lawmakers Pass Distracted Driving Bill (theurbanist.org)
reifman writes: Lawmakers have approved a crackdown on driving while using a handheld device in Washington State. In 2015, distracted driving accounted for nearly one-third of the deaths from traffic violence in Washington, 170 deaths out of 567. Citing “time for the public to adjust”, they passed an amendment to move the date of implementation for the increased fines and restrictions on mobile device use (e.g., cell phones, smartphones, tablets, laptops, and game consoles) while driving from January 1 of 2018 to January 1 of 2019–a 600 day grace period during which, if the trends hold, nearly 300 people will die.