Effective June 10, 2010, Washington State law will prohibit drivers from calling and texting while operating a moving motor vehicle. Such violations will no longer be a secondary offense. A police officer may pull you over just for seeing you hold a cell phone up to your ear or scan your phone for a text or email. [...]
Apr
2
2010
2
2010
Mar
17
2010
17
2010
Drunk Driver Gets 8 Years in Prison in Snohomish County
The Seattle Times reported that yesterday Matthew McDonald, who plead guilty to four counts of vehicular homicide, received a sentence of 8 years in prison by Snohomish County Superior Court Judge David Kurt. McDonald had a clean record before driving through a stop sign in Marysville into the side of a car carrying four adults. [...]
Mar
5
2010
5
2010
No Cell Phone Talking Or Texting For Teen Drivers in Washington State
Wednesday, the Washington State House passed a bill prohibiting teenage drivers from using a cell phone while driving. This ban is a primary offense and includes talking and texting. The penalty is a $124 fine. The House did not pass the portion of the bill proposing to make it a primary offense for adult [...]
Mar
3
2010
3
2010
Cell Phone Use While Driving – Primary Offense in Washington State?
Washington State legislatures will be considering whether texting and using a hand held cell phone should be a primary offense. To encourage your legislature to pass the proposed bill, visit Driven to Distraction Task Force of Washington State. Chief of Harborview Medical Center speaks in a video about the increasing incident of injuries caused by [...]
Jan
24
2010
24
2010
Former Student, Distracted By Texting, Kills Bicycling High School Teacher
In Washington State’s first vehicle homicide case involving a driver distracted by texting, 18-year-old Antonio Cellestine was sentenced to 60-months in jail for killing his former Hudson’s Bay High School teacher, Gordon Patterson. KATU: Man was texting when he hit and killed teacher. Cellestine was texting his girlfriend when he swerved off the road and [...]
Jan
24
2010
24
2010
Washington State Lawmakers Working to Make Cell Phone Distraction Primary Offense For Drivers
Currently Washington State drivers can be cited for talking on a cell phone or texting only if a police officer pulls them over for some other traffic violation (e.g., speeding, swerving, running a red light, no seat belt, etc.) Citizens and public officials recognize the serious (and sometimes fatal) risks caused by drivers distracted by [...]
Jan
20
2010
20
2010
Washington State Lawmakers Working To Ban BPA From Products for Children 3 and Younger
Following the Federal Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) changed position on the safety of bisphenol-A, or BPA, a widely used component of plastic bottles and food packaging that it declared safe in 2008 in products, The Seattle Times reports that Washington state lawmakers are pushing for new legislation that will protect children under age 3 from exposure [...]
Jan
5
2010
5
2010
Bellevue Adds Controversial Traffic Cameras
The City of Bellevue is adding two new traffic cameras that will automatically ticket drivers who run red lights at the intersections of 148th Avenue NE & Bel-Red Road and 148th Avenue NE & Main Street. For the first 30 days, the cameras will just issue warnings to drivers who run red lights. Then, starting [...]
Oct
1
2009
1
2009
Texting While Driving – Illegal For Federal Workers
President Obama signed an Executive Order forbidding federal workers to text while driving government vehicles. This order is an attempt to decrease the number of serious collisions caused by inattentive driving. The federal law only applies to federal workers while they are on the job using federal government vehicles. In comparison, Washington State law only [...]
Aug
22
2009
22
2009
No more *Mandatory* Arbitration in Chelan County, WA
Due to budget constraints, Chelan County cut out its court rule mandated, mandatory arbitration (MAR) requirement of cases filed in Chelan County Superior Court. Under the relevant court rule, LMAR 1.1, any civil claim involving no more than $50,000.00, must be placed into MAR. The purpose of the rule was “to provide a simplified and [...]
