Pennsylvania Representative proposes banning teens using cell phones while driving

• State Rep. Craig Dally figures young drivers have enough distractions while behind the wheel of a car --- chatting with passengers, listening to music --- and don't need anything else to divert their attention from the road.
• ''It seems reasonable to establish good driving habits in young individuals,'' the Northampton County Republican said at a news conference in front of the Hanover Township Recreation Center.
• Dally, joined by police chiefs of the Bethlehem Township, Colonial Regional and Pen Argyl departments, said instilling safe driving habits at an early age will create safer drivers when the teens become adults.
• The legislation calls for fines from $1 to $300 or community service and does not apply to people using cell phones to report an accident or an emergency.
• Young drivers at the Pennsylvania Driver License Center on Hoover Road in Allentown supported the bill.
• Sixteen-year-old Katherine Garcia of Allentown was at the center to get a permit and balked at the thought of combining cell phone conversations with concentrating on the road.
• Daniel Suarez of Allentown, who was waiting to take his driver's test, said his friends chat while driving, but he supported the idea of banning the practice, particularly while young people are learning how to drive.
• ''The NMA deplores the seemingly unconscious and dangerous driving on the part of certain cell phone users.
• The NMA is equally disturbed by similar driving practices exhibited by other drivers who are not using cell phones,'' the Web site says.
• ''The cause of the inattentiveness is largely irrelevant.''
• Retired driving instructor James Delgrosso said Dally's legislation doesn't go far enough and advocated a ban on all cell phone use in vehicles, regardless of the age of the driver.