Texting while driving ban not in budget

Many lawmakers seemed to favor putting a ban on texting while driving in the state budget bill that legislators will vote on soon, but the texting ban was taken out before the bill got out of committee.

Recent accidents on roads as well as the T, including the incident near Government Center where a Green Line driver rear-ended another trolley injuring several riders, have people focused on the dangers of texting while driving. The T has banned all cell phone use for operators and recently fired two employees for breaking the new rule.

Despite the fact that a texting ban won't be passed as part of the state budget, bans on texting and/or talking while driving are being proposed as part of new bills that could be passed in the future.