No More Calling in Cars for Va. Teens

Cellphone Ban Plus New Fees To Take Effect

RICHMOND, June 29 -- Three laws aimed at improving highway safety -- including a ban on teenagers under 18 using their cellphones while driving -- go into effect Sunday in Virginia.

The cellphone ban, one of several dozen new laws approved by the General Assembly that will take effect Sunday, prohibits drivers age 15, 16 and 17 from talking, sending text messages or snapping photos with a phone while driving on Virginia roads. The ban also will apply to hands-free devices but will allow teens to use a phone during an emergency, such as if someone thinks he or she is being followed.

Virginia will join the District, Maryland and 12 other states that bar teens from using a phone while driving. But like Virginia's seat-belt law, the teenage cellphone ban will be considered a secondary offense, so an officer could issue a citation only if the driver was pulled over for another moving violation.

Virginia drivers also will have to make sure children younger than 8 are secured in a booster seat while riding in a vehicle.

All motorists, regardless of age, should also start looking out for cameras at some intersections. Virginia is restarting a program that allows local governments to set up cameras to catch people who run red lights and send them a citation.

"We are looking for ways to make the roads safer," Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) said this week.

Also on Sunday, a new set of fees will take effect for misdemeanor and felony driving offenses. The offenses include reckless driving, driving without a license and driving while intoxicated and are in addition to fines imposed by judges. A reckless driving-speeding ticket will cost an additional $1,050, and an initial drunk-driving offense will cost $2,250, for example. In addition, new fees will be imposed for Virginia drivers who accrue more than eight demerit points.

Kaine, who heard an earful from angry drivers this week about the fees, said Friday: "The reality is, reckless driving is a serious offense. It is rare for someone to get a reckless driving conviction unless they have had previous convictions. My hope and belief is these steep fines are going to make people drive safer." He later added, "I think the majority of drivers' reactions will be, 'Hey, I don't commit these kind of offenses. It is not going to affect me.' "

Sen. James K. "Jay" O'Brien Jr. (R-Fairfax), the sponsor of the cellphone ban, said legislators are "trying to address risky behavior."

"Young people on cellphones do text-messaging like it's nobody's business," O'Brien said. "They think of themselves as proficient multi-taskers. But I would say as a parent that cannot be true."

The red-light-camera program will allow counties and cities to set up one red-light camera for every 10,000 residents.

Earlier this decade, the cameras were used in Alexandria, Fairfax City, Falls Church, Vienna, Virginia Beach and Arlington and Fairfax counties. The program expired in 2005, and conservatives from rural parts of Virginia blocked it from restarting until this year because of concerns that the cameras infringed on personal freedoms.

Opponents say that the cameras, which already are used in suburban Maryland and the District, are just a tax that local governments use to raise revenue.

But a coalition of Republicans and Democrats from suburban areas joined this year to reauthorize use of the cameras. The bipartisan group was bolstered by 2005 statistics from the state Department of Transportation showing that there were 7,000 accidents that year attributed to red-light running.

The booster seat law is designed to reduce the risk of fatalities in an accident.

Under current law, children have to ride in a booster seat until they are 6. But starting Sunday, children 6 and 7 will also have to be strapped into booster seats, which traffic safety experts say greatly increase the chance of children surviving a serious accident.

The General Assembly's decision to approve the teenage cellphone law was a response to a spate of fatal accidents on state highways.

Martha Mitchell Meade, spokeswoman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said the new law will "save lives of not just the teen drivers, but also the victims of teen drivers."

According to AAA, 92,000 Virginia residents will get licenses in 2007, the vast majority of whom will be teenagers. Auto accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers, and the fatality crash rate for 16-year-olds is twice as high as it is for 18- and 19-year-olds, according to AAA.

O'Brien said teenagers aren't the only ones who will have to get used to the new law.

"Even I have to remember, for my 16-year-old son, not to call him up while he is driving the car," O'Brien said. "I have to change my behavior to say, 'I want to hear from you at 10:30 or 11.' . . . That is a new way of doing business between parents and their teens, and we have to accept that."

At Tysons Corner Center this week, several teenage drivers said they welcome the new law. Peter Flint, 18, of Springfield said, "Younger drivers are inexperienced, and the distraction of a cellphone provides extra danger."

Pooneh Zarabi, 17, of McLean said she had an accident in Vienna after reaching to answer her cellphone.

"My parents have put it in my head I should stop using the phone while driving since I crashed because of it," Zarabi said. "I either put it on vibrate or just turn it off when driving."

Orndorff reported from Washington. Staff writer Tom Jackman contributed to this report.