7.4 Distracted, Negligent & Reckless Driving

7.4 Distracted, Negligent & Reckless Driving

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Personal electronic devices: the E-DUI law

RCW 46.61.672(1): "A person who uses a personal electronic device while driving a motor vehicle on a public highway is guilty of a traffic infraction and must pay a fine as provided in RCW 46.63.110(3)."

Everything turns on the two definitions in subsection (6).

"Driving" includes temporary stops. RCW 46.61.672(6)(a) defines driving as operating a motor vehicle on a public highway "including while temporarily stationary because of traffic, a traffic control device, or other momentary delays." It does not include a vehicle that "has pulled over to the side of, or off of, an active roadway and has stopped in a location where it can safely remain stationary." Sitting at a red light is driving.

"Use" is defined by three behaviours. RCW 46.61.672(6)(c): holding a personal electronic device in either hand or both hands; using a hand or finger to compose, send, read, view, access, browse, transmit, save, or retrieve email, text messages, instant messages, photographs or other electronic data - "however, this does not preclude the minimal use of a finger to activate, deactivate, or initiate a function of the device"; and watching video.

Because hands-free operation is none of those three things, it falls outside the prohibition for adult drivers. That is why the rule is described as a handheld rule even though the statute never uses the word.

"Personal electronic device" under RCW 46.61.672(6)(b) means any portable device capable of wireless communication or electronic data retrieval that is not manufactured primarily for hands-free use in a motor vehicle, expressly including cell phones, tablets, laptops, two-way messaging devices and electronic games, and expressly excluding two-way radio, citizens band radio and amateur radio equipment.

The exceptions in RCW 46.61.672(2) are four: a driver using a device to contact emergency services; a transit system employee using a system for time-sensitive relay communication with dispatch; a commercial motor vehicle driver using a device within the scope of employment where permitted under 49 U.S.C. 31136; and a person operating an authorized emergency vehicle.

Penalties. RCW 46.61.672(4): a second or subsequent offence is subject to two times the penalty amount under RCW 46.63.110. RCW 46.61.672(5): an infraction committed within a crash prevention zone created under RCW 46.61.090 has its base penalty doubled, and the total penalty including statutory assessments "may not be waived, reduced, or suspended," with fifty percent going to the highway safety fund for engineering, signing and safety improvements in that zone.

RCW 46.61.672(3) preempts the field: the section supersedes any local ordinance regulating personal electronic device use by a driver, so the rule is uniform statewide.

The stricter rules for young drivers and instructors

Teach this as an escalating series. The people with the least experience, and the professional responsible for them, are held to the strictest standard.

Dangerously distracted driving

RCW 46.61.673(1)(a): "It is a traffic infraction to drive dangerously distracted. Any driver who commits this infraction must be assessed a base penalty of thirty dollars."

RCW 46.61.673(1)(c) defines the term: "'dangerously distracted' means a person who engages in any activity not related to the actual operation of a motor vehicle in a manner that interferes with the safe operation of such motor vehicle on any highway."

RCW 46.61.673(1)(b): enforcement "may be accomplished only as a secondary action when a driver of a motor vehicle has been detained for a suspected violation of a separate traffic infraction or an equivalent local ordinance."

RCW 46.61.673(2) and (3): the penalty is deposited into the distracted driving prevention account, spendable only on programmes dedicated to reducing distracted driving and improving driver education on distracted driving.

Its breadth is what makes it useful in the classroom: eating, grooming, reaching for objects, interacting with passengers or pets, or reading a paper map are all capable of being dangerously distracted driving, because none of them is related to the actual operation of the vehicle.

Negligent and reckless driving

Washington layers three offences by mental state and consequence:

Note that negligent driving in the first degree appears in the WAC 308-108-080(1)(b)(i) list of drug or alcohol-related traffic violations, so for an instructor it is a licence-eligibility matter as well as a criminal one.

RCW 46.61.212(5) adds the work-zone specific offence of reckless endangerment of emergency or work zone workers, a gross misdemeanor with a mandatory 60-day suspension, covered in section 6.4.

Distraction in the crash record

RCW 46.52.030(4) requires the accident report form to record "whether any driver involved in the accident was distracted at the time of the accident," and prescribes the minimum reporting options:

not distracted; operating a handheld electronic telecommunication device; operating a hands-free wireless telecommunication device; other electronic devices including PDAs, laptops and navigational devices; adjusting an audio or entertainment system; smoking; eating or drinking; reading or writing; grooming; interacting with children, passengers, animals, or objects in the vehicle; other inside distractions; outside distractions; and distraction unknown.

That list is a teaching resource in itself. It is the state's own taxonomy of distraction, it includes hands-free use as a separate reportable category, and it makes clear that Washington counts passenger interaction as distraction - which is the empirical basis for the intermediate licence passenger restriction.

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Teaching attention management

Name the three types. Visual (eyes off the road), manual (hands off the wheel), cognitive (mind off the task). A phone conversation is cognitive distraction even when hands-free, which is why the accident report form lists hands-free use as its own category and why WAC 308-108-165 bans hands-free use by instructors.

Do the distance arithmetic. At 60 mph a vehicle covers about 88 feet per second, so a five-second glance covers roughly 440 feet - more than a city block, travelled blind. Have students compute it themselves for the speeds they actually drive.

Pre-drive the distractions away. Build a fixed pre-drive routine: destination set, music chosen, phone silenced and stowed out of reach, passengers briefed. Removing the choice is more reliable than resisting it.

Passengers are a design problem, not a character problem. A carload of peers changes a novice's behaviour measurably. That is why the restriction exists rather than an exhortation to concentrate.

Model it absolutely. WAC 308-108-165 is not merely a rule you obey; it is the demonstration. A student who once sees an instructor glance at a phone has learned that the rule is negotiable.

[!WARNING] Exam traps in this section

• Stopped at a light is still driving for RCW 46.61.672.
• Dangerously distracted driving is secondary enforcement with a $30 base penalty; the personal electronic device infraction is primary.
• RCW 46.61.672 has only four exceptions: emergency services, transit dispatch relay, commercial drivers within scope, and authorized emergency vehicle operators.
• A crash prevention zone doubles the base penalty, non-waivable, under RCW 46.61.672(5).
• Negligent driving second degree is a $250 infraction; first degree is a misdemeanor; reckless driving is a gross misdemeanor with a suspension of not less than thirty days.
• Negligent driving in the first degree counts as a drug or alcohol traffic violation for instructor eligibility.
• The accident report form lists hands-free use as a distinct distraction category.