HomeMy WebLinkAboutReso 2009-1481
RESOLUTION NO. 2009-14&/
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF
SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FLORIDA, URGING THE ST A TE
LEGISLA TURE TO ENACT LEGISLATION PROHIBITING AN
INDIVIDUAL FROM WRITING, SENDING OR RECEIVING
TEXT MESSAGES WHILE OPERATING A MOTOR VEHICLE;
DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO TRANSMIT A COPY OF
THIS RESOLUTION TO THE OFFICIALS AS STATED HEREIN;
PROVIDING THE CITY MANAGER WITH THE AUTHORITY
TO DO ALL THINGS NECESSARY TO EFFECTUATE THIS
RESOLUTION; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, the National Safety Council reports that using a cell phone while driving
quadruples drivers' risk of getting into an automobile accident; and
WHEREAS, studies have shown that driving while on the phone is the same as being
legally drunk or having a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent; and
WHEREAS, a study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that drivers
who text message while driving face a 23 times greater risk than undistracted drivers from
crashing or having a near crash; and
WHEREAS, the National Safety Council encourages states to regulate cell phone use
while driving and to include text messaging technology in any regulation; and
WHEREAS, a Federal Bill was recently proposed to reduce the amount of Federal
highway funding available to States that do not enact a law prohibiting an individual from
writing, sending, or reading text messages while operating a motor vehicle; and
WHEREAS, 17 States and the District of Columbia have already enacted legislation that
prohibits an individual from writing, sending, or reading text messages while operating a motor
vehicle; and
WHEREAS, the City Commission believes that regulating text messaging while driving
is necessary for the health, safety and welfare of residents of Sunny Isles Beach.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY
OF SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FLORIDA, AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The Urging of the State Legislature. The City Commission hereby urges the
Florida Legislature to enact legislation prohibiting an individual- from writing, sending, or reading
text messages while operating a motor vehicle.
Section 2. Directive to the City Clerk. The City Commission hereby directs the City Clerk
to transmit a certified copy of this Resolution to the Governor of the State of Florida, Mayor of
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Miami-Dade, and Representatives in Florida Legislature and to each of the thirty five
municipalities comprising the Miami-Dade League of Cities.
Section 3. Authorization of City Manager. The City Manager is hereby authorized to do all
things necessary to effectuate this Resolution.
Section 4.
Effective Date. This Resolution shall become effective upon adoption.
ATTEST:
~A~
Jane A. Hines, City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM
AND LEGAL UFFICIENCY:
Moved by:
N-
C1~ ~~Z.I,j
Seconded by:
Vote: S-o
Mayor Edelcup
Vice Mayor Thaler
Commissioner Goodman
Commissioner Brezin
Commissioner Scholl
~(Yes)
V (Yes)
V(Y es)
~1Yes)
~(Yes)
_(No)
_(No)
_(No)
_(No)
_(No)
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AlJTHENTICAn:~
... US. COVERNMENT
-INPORMATION
GPO
II
111 TH CONGRESS
1 ST SESSION
S.1536
To amend title 23, United States Code, to reduce the amount of Federal
highway tunding available to States that do not enact a law pl'Ohibiting
an individual fl'Om writing, sending, or reading text messages while
operating a motor vehicle.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JULY 29, 2009
Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mrs. HAGAN, and Ms.
LA.-':DRIEU) intl'Oduced the following bill; which was read twice and re-
ferred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works
A BILL
To amend title 23, United States Code, to reduce the amount
of Federal highway funding available to States that do
not enact a law prohibiting an individual from writing,
sending, or reading text messages while operating a
motor vehicle.
1 Be it enacted by the Senate and /louse of Representa-
2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
4 This Act may be cited as the "Avoiding Life-Endan-
5 gering and Reckless TeA'ting by Drivers Act of 2009" or
6 the "AljERT Drivers Act".
2
1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
2 Congress finds that-
3 (1) cell phones and other electronic devices are
4 not only instrumentalities and channels of interstate
5 commerce, but products of interstate commerce;
6 (2) for those reasons, regulation of the use of
7 cellular telephones or other electronic devices to send
8 text messages is covered by the power of Congress
9 to regulate interstate commerce as enumerated In
10 article I, section 8 of the Constitution;
11 (3) additionally, the Supreme Court held in
12 South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203 (June 23,
13 1987), that Congress may condition Federal high-
14 way funding on State compliance 'with certain condi-
15 tions;
16 (4) people in the United States are using cel-
17 lular telephones and other personal electronic devices
18 to send text messages or emails, more commonly
19 known as "texting", with increasing frequency;
20 (5) according to the N ew York Times, more
21 than 110,000,000,000 te).-t messages were sent in
22 the United States during the month of December
23 2008 alone, a tenfold increase in just 3 years;
24 (6) texting and portable email are valuable to
25 consumers, businesses, and private individuals
26 throughout the United States, but those services also
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create an extreme risk when used by individuals
while operating motor vehicles;
(7) a 2008 study by Nationwide Insurance
found that 20 percent of drivers in the United
States send text messages while operating motor ve-
hicles;
(8) according to a study by Car and Driver
Magazine, texting while driving is more dangerous
than driving while intoxicated;
(9) a recent study by the Virginia Tech Trans-
portation Institute found operators of motor vehicles
who sent text messages while driving had a collision
risk that was 23 times greater while texting as com-
pared to the risk when the operators were not
texting;
(10) another study by the University of Utah
found that college students using a driving simulator
were 8 times more likely to have an accident while
teA"ting;
(11) after a serIOUS accident occurred on the
Boston public trolley system in May 2009, the trol-
ley operator was found to have been teA"ting at the
time of the accident.
,
(12) the problem of texting while driving has
been recognized across the United States;
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1 (13) as of the date of enactment of this Act, 14
2 States and the District of Columbia ban all drivers
3 from texting while operating motor vehicles, and 11
4 other States have a modified ban on texting while
5 driving;
6 (14) the risks created by texting while driving
7 are increasing nationwide as the use of texting in-
8 creases nationwide;
9 (15) it is necessary for Congress to act to pro-
10 tect the safety of all people in the United States on
11 highways and roads in the United States; and
12 ( 16) a Federal law to address the problem of
13 te).'ting while driving is necessary to ensure min-
14 imum standards of protection across the United
15 States, in the same manner as the national min-
16 imum drinking age provides a uniform standard of
17 protection.
18 SEC. 3. OPERATION OF MOTOR VEmCLES WHILE TEXTING.
19 (a) IN GE~ERAL.-Chapter 1 of title 23, United
20 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
21 lowing:
22 "~167. Operation of motor vehicles while texting
23 "(a) DEJo~INITIONS.-In this section:
24 "(1) HAND-HELD :\;IOBILE TELEPHONE.-
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1 "(A) IN GENERAL.-The term 'hand-held
2 mobile telephone' means a mobile telephone or
3 other portable electronic communication device
4 with which a user engages in a call or writes,
5 sends, or reads a text message using at least 1
6 hand.
7 "(B) EXCLUSION.-The term 'hand-held
8 mobile telephone' does not include a voice-acti-
9 vated device.
10 "(2) MOTOR VEHICLE.-The term 'motor vehi-
11 cle' means-
12 "(A) a vehicle driven or drawn by mechan-
13 ical power and manufactured primarily for use
14 on public highways; and
15 "(B) a railcar or other component of a
16 fixed guideway system that is not subject to
17 regulation by the Federal Railroad Administra-
18 tion.
19 "(3) TEXT :\1ESSAGE.-The term 'text message'
20 includes a text-based message, instant message, elec-
21 tronic message, and email.
22 "( 4) WRITING; SENDING; READING.-The terms
23 'writing', 'sending', and 'reading', with respect to a
24 text message, mean the manual entry, sending, or
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1 retrieval of a text message, respectively, to commu-
2 nicate with any person or device.
3 "(b) WITHHOLDING OF APPORTION:YlENTS I<~OR NON-
4 COMPLIANCE.-
5 "(1) IN GENERAh-On October 1 of the second
6 fiscal year beginning after the date of promulgation
7 of the regulations under subsection (d), and annually
8 thereafter, the Secretary shall withhold 25 percent
9 of the amount required to be apportioned to any
10 State under each of paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of
11 section 1 04(b) for the fiscal year if the Secretary de-
12 termines that the State does not meet the reqmre-
13 ment under paragraph (2) as of that date.
14 "(2) REQUIRE:\iENT.-A State shall meet the
15 requirement under this paragraph if the State has
16 enacted and is enforcing a law that-
17 "(A) except in the event of an emergency,
18 prohibits an operator of a moving motor vehicle
19 from writing, sending, or reading a text mes-
20 sage using a hand-held mobile telephone; and
21 "(B) requires, upon conviction of a viola-
22 tion of that prohibition, the imposition of pen-
23 alties in aecordance with the requirements for
24 minimum penalties described in the regulations
25 promulgated under subsection (d).
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1 "(c) RECOVERY OF FU~DS WITHHELD.-All funds
2 withheld under this section from apportionment to a State
3 for 1 or more fiscal years shall be available for apportion-
4 ment to the State immediately upon a determination by
5 the Secretary that the State meets the requirement under
6 paragraph (2).
7 "(d) REGULATIO~S.-Not later than 180 days after
8 the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall
9 promulgate regulations to carry out this section, including
10 requirements for minimum penalties for violations of the
11 prohibition under subsection (b)(2)(A) that-
12 "(1) specify a minimum penalty for a first of-
13 fensej and
14 "(2) stipulate that penalties shall be graduated
15 for repeated offenses.".
16 (b) CONFORMING 1L\IENDMENT.-The analysis for
17 title 23, United States Code, is amended by adding at the
18 end of the items relating to chapter 1 the following:
"167. Opcl'lItion of motor vehicles while tC.lI.iing.".
o
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Page 1 of 1
City of Sunny Isles Beach
18070 Collins Avenue
Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 33160
(305) 947-0606 City Hall
(305) 949-3113 Fax
MEMORANDUM
TO:
The Honorable Mayor and City Commission
FROM:
Mayor Norman S. Edelcup
DATE:
9/17/2009
RE:
A Resolution Urging the State Legislature to Pass Laws Banning Texting
While Driving
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the attached Resolution be approved.
REASONS:
Texting while driving has caused many accidents nationwide. Studies have shown that
people who talk on the phone and text message while driving are as impaired as drunk
drivers. A Harris Interactive Poll shows 8 out of 10 American adults believe that sending
text messages or em ails while driving is "distracting, dangerous, and should be
outlawed."
The National Safety Council reports that using a cell phone while driving quadruples
drivers' risk of getting into an automobile accident. The Council encourages states to
regulate cell phone use while driving and to include text messaging technology in any
regulation. 17 States including California which has the most drivers have already
banned texting while driving.
Recently, a Federal Bill was proposed to reduce the amount of Federal highway funding
available to States that do not enact a law prohibiting an individual from writing,
sending, or reading text messages while operating a motor vehicle.
This City Commission certainly seeks to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the
residents of Sunny Isles Beach, and regulating text messaging while driving is necessary
for their protection. I respectfully request your support ofthe attached Resolution.
ATTACHMENTS:
. Urging State Legislature to Pass Laws banning Texting while driving
. S 1536
Agenda Item _\ D Y
http://sibagenda.sibfl.net/agenda/Preview .aspx?l temID=79&MeetingID=( Date
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