David Day, I thank you for proposing this on military retirement income. Many states don’t require military pensions to be taxed. Missouri needs to step up to the plate and do the same.

I like the concept of the “driving while yakking” ban, so long as exceptions exist for dealing with emergency situations. I doubt it will pass though, because most legislators themselves drive while on the phone.

Banning cell phone while driving is long overdue. As long as there are exceptions for emergency situations I’m all for it.

I agree that using a cell phone causes drivers to lose concentration and do stupid things like wander into another lane, etc. However, there are a lot of other distracting behaviors that do the same thing. So let’s ban changing CDs, applying makeup, smacking your kids in the back seat, reading maps…the list goes on.

What about laws to ban hair-combing while driving, or putting on make-up, or taking off your jacket, or reading the newspaper or watching a video? I’ve seen people doing all of these things, weaving in and out of their lanes of traffic. They would still be free to do all this despite the good intentions of Rep. Smith’s proposal. I agree that drivers need to concentrate on their driving and limit their distractions, but I don’t think a ban on phone use while driving is the answer. Careless and imprudent driving is already illegal.

As for Rep. Day’s proposal, I don’t think veterans should have to pay taxes. Ever. We owe them that and a lot more.

St. Louis Oracle - how does an officer determine is the reason they have the phone in their ear is an emergency without stopping them?

Handsfree works well, jut spend some money for a blue tooth or a wired headset - cost of one of these is a lot chaepaer then a funeral. This bill would be the first step in getting rid of those that are texting while they are driving.

banning cell phones while driving makes too much sense for our show-me state to pass into law. just think, this bill would require over half of our house of representatives to put their cell phones down long enough to vote on a non-farm related issue. best wishes to rep. smith and rep. day in passing their common sense bill. sadly this is missouri!

I feel usage of cell phone while driving shoudl be banned regardless as to if it is an emergency or not. You should pull over and handle your business and what one person considers an emergency may not be an emergency to others.

I can’t believe people are actually in favor of another law that won’t have any effect at all on anything other than state and local revenues. Banning cell phone use while driving won’t save 1 life but will make plenty of money for the state and various cities and offer one more way for police to harass otherwise law-abiding citizens. We don’t need more laws, we need enforcement of the current laws. As kccardinal mentions, careless and imprudent driving is already illegal. The problem is that the only time it’s ever charged is as a reduced charge on a DWI. Police never pull over or ticket weaving, speeding, tailgating drivers until/unless they kill someone. Also, I’m assuming cops would be exempt from this law since I see plenty of them driving around talking on their cell phones all the time.

Please pass the cell bill. I hate people who miss the green light because of a conversation. They just sit there and talk. Mostly teen girls are the problem there. Second is the guy talking while driving slow in the passing lane. Move over and talk.