Senator wants texting while driving as secondary offense

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A proposed compromise to expand Missouri's texting-while-driving law appears to have fallen flat in a Senate committee.

The Senate Transportation Committee heard testimony Wednesday on a bill that would prohibit all drivers -- not just those 21 and younger -- from texting while driving. Because similar bills have failed in the past, Democratic Sen. Robin Wright-Jones of St. Louis proposed making texting a secondary offense -- meaning police would have to pull motorists over for something else before they could write a ticket for texting.

But the Missouri State Highway Patrol said it prefers to make texting a primary offense.

Several senators also said that if Missouri is to strengthen its texting law, they want police to be able to pull people over for violations.