State Senator Jim Alesi and members of local law enforcement are pushing for a ban on text messaging while driving. The move comes five months after a horrific crash shook the community. At a press conference this afternoon, Senator Alesi announced he has introduced legislation in the State Senate that would prohibit drivers from texting while driving. Washington State has already banned DWT, or "driving while texting." At least five other states are considering it, including New York. Senator Alesi's bill would amend the current law on using a hand held cell phone while driving to include text messaging as well as requiring the pre-licensing course to include a component on "cell phone safety". The bill would further direct the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles to include a component on cell phone safety in the pre-licensing course and a question on this issue in the written licensing exam. The issue especially hits home here. In June five recent Fairport grads were killed when their SUV slammed into a tractor trailer in East Bloomfield. Authorities later learned text messages had been sent and received from the driver's cell phone seconds before the accident. To this day, they don't know if the driver, Bailey Goodman, was the one actually texting or if it caused the accident.
