For years, state Assemblyman George Nakano has tried in vain to get his fellow lawmakers to limit cellphone use by drivers in this car-happy, yack-happy state.
But each time irresponsible schlubs like me (and everyone I know) come close to being saved from ourselves by one of Nakano's bills, the wireless companies leap in with a free-speech argument and a lot of lobbying bucks, and the issue goes away.
During last fall's election season, for example, AT&T Wireless contributed $628,983 to candidates and political action committees. Verizon Wireless spent about $28,000 last year on campaign contributions, and the two companies have lobbyists both on staff and as consultants from outside firms.
Now Nakano, a Democrat from Torrance, has a new approach. His latest bill takes a whack at cellphone use, prohibiting both hands-free and hand-held devices. But instead of targeting drivers of automobiles, this bill is aimed at bus drivers.
"This bill narrows the focus," said Nakano, who explains that bus drivers, because they are responsible for the safety of others, have a special responsibility to keep their eyes on the road, and not on their keypads. .
Cellphone use by bus drivers has been banned in several states, and Nakano's bill appears to be gathering support in Sacramento. Last week, it passed the Assembly Transportation Committee.
It bans all cellphone use -- hands-free or not -- among transit drivers and school bus drivers in the state.
The bill has the support of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in Los Angeles County, as well as the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Transit officials say there has been genuine concern about drivers talking on their phones while piloting buses. MTA Deputy Chief John Catoe says he has seen drivers from both his agency and Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus agency chatting away while barreling down the road in a bus filled with passengers.
Mary Couch, a Santa Catalina Island resident, said she saw a bus driver in Ventura County who was too busy talking to let a woman disembark.
"He's on the phone and she pushes the stop button, and he passed her stop," Couch said. "The lady just fell apart."
After the passenger made a fuss, Couch said, the driver let her out, even though there was no bus stop nearby.
At the MTA, the agency handed out about 125 cellphones to drivers whose two-way radios weren't working. The drivers, who had the phones for about four years before returning them, weren't supposed to use them except in emergencies.
