The San Antonio Police Department today spoke out against a proposal being discussed in the State Legislature to impose a statewide rule covering the use of hand held cell phones while driving, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The problem, according to Police Sgt. Jim Jones...is that the law proposed by the governor is far less stringent than the one currently in place in San Antonio.
"We don't want our drivers and citizens to be able to watch movies in Netflix while they're driving, or Facebooking," he said.
The state law would simply outlaw the 'receiving, reading, and sending of a text message' while driver. The San Antonio law, which took effect in early 2015, bans all hand held cell phone use while driving, including texting, talking, watching videos and looking up GPS directions.
"Under this law, people could be Snapchatting or surfing the web while they are operating a motor vehicle," Jones said.
Abbott says a statewide law is needed because the current 'patchwork' of existing municipal laws is impossible to enforce, with some cities banning certain things, then you drive over a municipal boundary and other things are outlawed.
Strict anti cell phone use laws have not received widespread support among Texas conservatives, which is why the less stringent state law has been proposed. In fact, then Gov. Rick Perry banned a tough law against the use of cell phones while driving following the 2013 session, saying it violated the rights of adult drivers to make their own decisions inside their cars.