WASHINGTON, D. C. (Tuesday, January 8, 2019) –– A tour bus driver was arrested and charged with “involuntary manslaughter” in late December after allegedly striking and killing two adult females in the crosswalk at the intersection of 7th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Northwest Washington, D.C. The bus driver was reportedly using a handheld cellphone at the time of the fatal crash with the pedestrians. However, it is unlikely the accused will also be charged under the city’s tougher distracted driving law that imposes enhanced penalties, such as the real prospect of jail time and the “possibility of negligent homicide charges” for cellphone and texting violations resulting in deaths or substantial bodily harm.

The city’s so-called “three-strike” law also targets repeat distracted driving violators. Yet it continues to languish in technological limbo in the District three years after the District Council passed it. That is because the Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC) still doesn’t have the real-time technology that gives sworn police officers instant access in the field to a list of prior distracted driving convictions on a motorist’s record during a probable cause traffic stop, explains AAA Mid-Atlantic. Federal law bans handheld cell phone use by drivers of buses and large trucks while driving on interstates. Moreover, the District prohibits school bus drivers from using any type of cellphone or electronic device while driving, even if the system is hands-free. Despite the strictures, the overall number of distracted driving tickets continues to decline in the District. More than 116,000 drivers were issued distracted driving tickets in the nation’s capital during the 15-year period from 2004 and 2017, the last year such figures were available, AAA Mid-Atlantic reports.

“Unsettlingly, the escalating fine regime for repeat violators is dormant because officers don’t have the software to access a driver’s record of distracted driving convictions in the DMV database on their tablets, mobile computing devices, or electronic ticketing devices,” said John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Manager of Public and Government Affairs. “The gestating law is a natural next step in changing the city’s traffic safety culture. Put it away. Place your mobile device out of sight to prevent temptation.”

Though currently moribund, D.C. Law 21-196 would impose harsh penalties, including negligent homicide charges, for violations involving deaths, injuries, or property damage. The enhanced penalties apply, “when a texting or cellphone violation leads to the death of another, substantial bodily harm or property damages of at least $10,000. These violations carry up to $1,000 in fines and/or a maximum 180 days in jail.”

Although research shows only a “small number of fatal bus crashes are caused by driver distractions,” federal law only bans commercial motor vehicle drivers, including interstate truck and bus drivers, from using handheld cell phones while driving on interstates. In fact interstate truck drivers and bus drivers are prohibited from “reaching for or holding a mobile phone to conduct a voice communication, as well as dialing by pressing more than a single button.” Even so, “Commercial truck and bus companies that allow their drivers to use hand-held cell phones while driving will face a maximum penalty of $11,000.” In the District, school bus drivers, as well as drivers with learner’s permits, “may not use any sort of cell phone while driving, unless it's for an emergency situation,” according to the AAA Digest of Motor Laws.

The question remains, is the delay in implementing stiffer penalties for driver distractions causing the District to become less safe? In fact, data on crashes, injuries and deaths involving distracted driving are notoriously poor. All told, under the city’s “zero tolerance” distracted driving law, 116,689 motorists received distracted driving tickets after being pulled over by a police officer during the 14-year period, according to an analysis of MPDC data by AAA Mid-Atlantic. It is a yearly average of 8,334 drivers cited for breaking the distracted driving law in Washington, D.C. in the period from 2004 to 2016, plus Fiscal Year 2017.

But the annual total is declining. Police officers in the District handed down at least 4,209 distracted driving citations during an 11-month period of Fiscal Year 2017, according to preliminary data in the D.C. Highway Safety Office’s (HSO) FY17 Annual Report. That tally includes 3,391 citations for driver distractions during grant-funded enforcement activities and high visibility enforcement campaigns all across the nation’s capital, such as 1,361 distracted driving citations during National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, April 10-15; and 1,042 citations during the Click It or Ticket campaign from May 15 to June 17.

The number of drivers ticketed for distracted driving peaked in 2010, when 14,580 motorists were issued citations for talking on a cell phone, texting while driving or other distracted driving behaviors. However, the number of distracted driving tickets issued in Washington, D.C. plummeted to 3,904 in 2016, according to the 2016 Metropolitan Police Department Annual Report, released December 29, 2017.  Moreover, during 2016, the District issued the lowest number of distracted driving tickets in the 12-year period, or since 2004, when it handed down 3,271 distracted driving tickets.

Distracted Driving Citations in the District of Columbia CY2004-FY2017

The number of distracted driving citations in the District dropped by 10,676 tickets from 2010 to 2016, which represents a decrease of 73.2 percent decrease in such tickets during the period. It is not from the lack of trying or the lack of enforcement that there is a paucity of distracted driving tickets being handed out in recent years. After all, the District issues over 2.5 million tickets in any given year. Only a fraction of those tickets were for distracted driving violations as drivers devise hide-and-go-seek tactics to cloak their cell phone habits from the prying eyes of officers.

In contrast, during traffic stops law enforcement officers in the city handed down 180,878 citations for moving violations in a period of two years and five months. Officers on patrol duty in the District issued 71,294 tickets for moving violations, such as impaired driving, egregious speeding, seatbelt and child restraint violations, and distracted driving, and “failure to stop for a school bus when children are boarding or exiting,” during Fiscal Year 2017, which netted the District $2,709,430 in revenue. AAA Mid-Atlantic obtained the data through a FOIA request.

Law enforcement officers issued 30,134 citations for moving violations, which generated $856,373 in ticket revenue in the first five months of fiscal 2018, from October 1, 2017 to February 28, 2018. In Fiscal 2016, 79,450 motorists were pulled over during traffic stops and summarily slapped with citations for sundry moving violations.

“Some ‘thumb-happy’ drivers have become sneakier with the use of their electronic devices and cell phones, as they continue to stash their cell phone and ‘play a cat and mouse game with the police’ to avoid strong enforcement, detection, and the hot seat,” said Townsend. “Drivers rarely admitted to being distracted and it is difficult for law enforcement to observe it. Just as drivers need to pay attention, so do pedestrians and bicyclists. Never call, text or play games while walking or cycling.”

“From 2008 to 2014, law enforcement officers issued 47,240 tickets for distracted driving,” according to a 2016 memo by the District Council Committee on Transportation and the Environment. On top of that, the District’s comprehensive ban on distracted driving falls under its primary enforcement laws. That means an “officer may cite a driver for using a hand-held cell phone without any other traffic offense taking place.” In 2016, the District Council passed a tougher amended distracted driving law that strips driver’s licenses from repeat violators convicted of racking up three distracted driving tickets within an 18-month period. 

The measure, “The Enhanced Penalties for Distracted Driving Amendment Act of 2016 (Council Bill 21-021),” was supported by AAA Mid-Atlantic. Prior to the passage of the act the fine for a distracted driving ticket was $100. The measure added a penalty of $150 for a second distracted driving penalty within an 18-month period. The new law laid it down, for a third or subsequent offense within a period of 1.5 years, the penalty increased to $200.  Upon a third strike within 18 months, it mandates the eventual “suspension of the driver’s license or privilege to operate a vehicle in the District for at least 30 days, but not more than 90 days.”

However, the implementation of law is still languishing. In fact, carrying out the law is subject to budgetary constraints and contingent upon the “Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) developing an electronic system that provides enforcement officers with real-time on prior convictions for all distracted driving offenses,” warned Jeffrey S. DeWitt, the District of Columbia Chief Financial Officer. The District Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) reported: “The District issues approximately 6,900 distracted driving tickets each fiscal year, but it is unknown how many of those have been issued to repeated violators within an eighteen month period who would then be subject to enhanced penalties.”

Yet some states are slowly moving toward collecting more and higher quality police crash report data on driver distractions, according to AAA. The pioneering District law that outlawed driving while using handheld cell phones or other electronic devices went into effect in July 2004. Starting January 2019, cyclists will also face a $50 fine for riding “with a headset, headphones or earplugs covering both ears,” under the “Vision Zero Rulemaking Approval Resolution of 2018.” Cyclists also face a $50 fine for “carrying objects, including handheld communication devices that prevent cyclists from keeping one hand on handle bars.” The previous fine was $25.

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