Tougher distracted driving rules paired with racial data collectionThe Pennsylvania House recently passed a bill that would empower police to pull over and fine people for handling their cellphones while behind the wheel, a long-sought expansion of the state’s distracted driving laws.
To get it through the chamber, members of the Democratic majority amended the measure to require state and some local law enforcement to collect data on the race of the drivers they pull over — information that makes it possible to audit departments for racial bias.
During a previous attempt to pass the distracted driving bill, the Legislative Black Caucus balked over concerns that it would be unfairly applied to people of color.
The addition of the data collection component is a compromise — one that works for most caucus members, including state Rep. Manny Guzman (D., Berks). He told Spotlight PA ahead of the final vote that it was "a hard pill to swallow," adding he would support the bill if it meant ensuring data collection. (He later voted yes).
The measure now returns to the state Senate, where lawmakers previously approved the distracted driving language. A spokesperson for the GOP majority said only that the new language “will be reviewed.”
State Sen. Rosemary Brown (R., Lackawanna), the bill’s sponsor, said she has “education to do in my chamber to make sure they understand how we got to this point.”
Still, Brown, who has been working on the bill for more than a decade as a member of both the state House and Senate, said she thinks she’ll ultimately get her chamber’s support. “It is well overdue,” she said.
State Police already collect racial data, though the agency quietly paused collection a few years ago before resuming the practice. Some local departments also collect it, but the policy isn’t universal.
A spokesperson for state House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery) said the new version of the bill was developed in concert with Brown and the Legislative Black Caucus to “ensure that drivers are treated equally and to mitigate profiling of individuals.”
Brown’s legislation was considered during the previous legislative session, when the chamber was under Republican control. At the time, Black Caucus leaders said the addition of mandatory racial data collection would help their members support the measure. Ultimately, GOP leadership never brought the bill up for a vote.
One group that doesn’t support the bill’s new language? The Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association.
In a statement, Executive Director Scott Bohn said the group supports stricter phone use regulations, but not data collection, and added that its preference would be for racial and other data to simply be put on drivers’ licenses.
After years of working through iteration after iteration of the measure, Brown said she sees this approach as the best way of accomplishing the bill’s goals to further “public safety” and “prevent crashes … in a very reasonable, responsible, and fair manner.”
If the state Senate passes the measure and Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro signs it, police will not be able to fine drivers for violating the law for 12 months. Brown said the gap between passage and enactment is intended to give people time to familiarize themselves with the rule. —Katie Meyer, Spotlight PA
Spotlight PA’s Stephen Caruso contributed reporting. | 
