DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa House is expected to take up a bill that would prohibit drivers from holding their phones while driving.
Senate File 547 has already passed the Senate and will likely pass the House as well. Republicans and Democrats both agree this is a measure to keep Iowans safe.
The legislation would require drivers who want to use their phone to use hands-free methods like Siri or Google, or pulling over altogether to pick up their phone.
"It's really about distracted driving," said Rep. Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines. "And the one thing that distracts most people above all is really the cell phone that they're looking at. Text messages and who knows what they're Googling at the time."
"You can put it on your mantel of your car or on your console and you could turn on the speaker. So then there's many ways to become legal to do it," said Rep. Brian Best, R-Glidden.
If someone gets caught, there are clear consequences: for the first year, a warning; after that, a $135 fine that's a moving violation.
"I think people after that first year getting warning tickets will start to pay closer attention to what they're doing when they're driving," Meyer added.
Legislators do not believe the current no-texting law goes far enough.
"It was really hard, too, for the police and the State Patrol to really know what the intent of the driver was. So if he was holding his phone and he could always say he was texting, they couldn't get the phone from them," Best said. "So they really didn't know what he was doing."
The Iowa State Patrol says drivers who use their phones while driving are four times more likely to get into crashes. Iowa House members say if they pass SF547, Iowa would be the 19th state to put such a law into place.