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Date: 12/21/2021
NORTHAMPTON – On Dec. 14, state Sen. Jo Comerford introduced new legislation to strengthen the Massachusetts hands-free driving law by banning any driver from broadcasting or recording themselves while driving.
The law, titled “An Act Prohibiting Video Recording or Broadcasting While Driving,” is being presented three months after Northampton-based musician Charlie Braun died when a motorist struck him as he was riding his bicycle. The motorist is understood to have been on a Facetime call while driving.
In 2019, the state passed hands-free driving legislation, which prohibits drivers from holding any mobile electronic device in one’s hands, and bans reading or viewing text, images, or video displayed on a mobile electronic device. In an interview with Reminder Publishing, Comerford said that drivers are beginning to work around that law, however. The new law seeks to shore up any loopholes.
“[Drivers] aren’t holding their phone per se, but they’re still engaging with their phone in a very distracted way,” said Comerford. “People aren’t just speaking on the phone, but they’re creating video content that requires a glance at the phone.”
According to Comerford, there are a few exceptions to the law for dash cams that are mounted and operated continuously to record video to monitor traffic or passengers, as is often done by commercial vehicles or rideshare drivers for Uber and Lyft. The law does also consider people’s civil liberties. For example, people will still be allowed to film an encounter that they feel was intrusive or unnecessary.
Comerford said she personally did not know Braun before he passed, but she did talk to his partner and the people within the community to get a feel for who he was as a person. “So many people in our community, including dear friends of mine, knew and love him as an incredible human that he was by all accounts,” said Comerford. “His partner reached out and said, ‘What are you prepared to do to help ensure that this kind of epidemic of videoing while driving doesn’t continue to take lives like Charlie’s?’”
In a press release sent to Reminder Publishing, Joan Ringrose Sellers, Braun’s partner, had this to say about Braun and the distracted driving that lead to his death: “I see it like Charlie was swept away in a tsunami, the dangerous and destructive rising tide of distracted driving. We can all see it coming and we’re watching it sweep away the things and the ones we love. This one small act of closing this loophole in the distracted driving law along with a renewed and vigorous ad campaign should deter and diminish the use of cameras and social media content filmed in moving vehicles. This will afford others the right to return home, which Charlie will never do again.”
A 2021 report by the State Farm Auto Insurance Company’s Research Department found that the number of people recording videos while driving more than doubled in the five years between 2015 and 2020, going from 10 percent five years ago to 22 percent of all drivers last year, according to the press release.
According to Comerford, there was statewide momentum for hands-free provisions in legislation until COVID-19 hit. In talking to advocates, Comerford said that many worried that COVID-19 disallowed the state to go the lengths that they should have in enforcing the hands-free law because of the pandemic’s massive disruption.
“My hope is that there’s a renewed focus on safe driving from this bill and all the other bills that are filed during this session,” said Comerford.
When studying this issue, there is also the discussion around how much a corporation like Apple is liable when it comes to encouraging people to engage in video content in driving – especially since they are the ones that facilitate cell phones with those attributes. Comerford said Apple could consider adding a feature on the phone that discourages people from engaging in video content while driving,
Many advocates are supporting this legislation, including representatives from the Safe Roads Alliance, AAA Northeast and the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition. The legislation will now get assigned to a committee and then a hearing for public comment will be set soon for testimonies.