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Crime & Safety

Texting While Driving on the Rise Despite Ban

Many Hermosans as well as others in the region are ignoring the law, leading some officials to push for harsher penalties.

State officials hoped that passing a ban on texting while driving last year would curb the dangerous act among Californians. But since then, the number of behind-the-wheel texters has doubled statewide, experts say.

And, according to police reports, Hermosans' texting habits are no different from their Southern California neighbors.

Officer Donald Jones of the Hermosa Beach Police Department said that finding drivers texting is common in the South Bay and results in a number of car crashes.

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"Usually people lie about whether or not their cell phone was in use" after being pulled over, Jones said.

The Auto Club of Southern California's latest survey of drivers, which included 4,000 vehicles in the region, found that it's difficult for law enforcement agencies to cite texting drivers because many of them hide their cell phones in their laps.

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"The growth of texting overall has outpaced current enforcement and overcome the current law," said Auto Club government affairs manager Steve Finnegan in a press statement.

The California Highway Patrol reported issuing only about 200 citations per month since the statewide ban on texting went into effect for a total of 3,742 tickets.

In comparison, about 12,500 citations were issued per month for hand-held cell phone use, despite the percentage of drivers who talk on the phone remaining steady, for a total of 282,666 tickets.

If proven that they had been texting, first offenders must pay a $20 base fine, along with penalty assessments. Subsequent convictions cost $50. The Auto Club noted that "a first conviction does not harm one's driving record," which could be a reason why drivers are taking the ban lightly.

"Current penalties on the books for texting while driving in the Golden State are inadequate," Finnegan said.

A recent bill, SB1475, proposed strengthening the ban by increasing penalties for drivers, including adding a point to driving records if cited. But the bill failed to pass this summer in the state Legislature, and some locals agree with its defeat.

"Texting is a part of this generation," said Armando Compean, a frequent visitor to Hermosa Beach from West Hollywood. "By putting a ban on [texting while driving], it only puts a spotlight on an act that is always going to happen."

The 23-year-old Blackberry owner admitted that although there are dangers to texting while driving, "it's a new form of calling and is essential." He added that he simply memorizes where the letters are on his phone's keypad so he can type without looking as a way to avoid being pulled over for the crime.

As a young adult, Compean represents the demographic of Southern Californians who are most likely to text and drive, according to the Auto Club's study.

The biggest offenders of the texting ban are young women, of which 4.3 percent were more apt to text at any time while on the road versus young men, who follow behind at about 2 percent, the Auto Club found.

Even though young drivers said that they're aware of the dangers of texting behind the wheel (studies show that the risk of crashing is 23 times greater when texting) the act is "inevitable," said Manhattan Beach resident Alyssia Miller, 20.

"I try not to text while I drive so I wait for a stoplight to do it," she said.

Both Compean and Miller said that they have friends who have been pulled over for texting, but paying the fines did not hinder the 20-somethings from cell phone use.

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