From The Delaware County Times:

Just a reminder in case you didn’t know: Our neighbor state to the south, Delaware, has a law banning hand-held cell phone use and texting while driving that becomes effective Jan. 2, 2011.

Gov. Jack Markell signed the legislation last month, making Delaware the ninth state to ban the use of hand-held cell phones behind the wheel and the 30th state to ban texting while driving.

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The honchos in Harrisburg, despite efforts by state Rep. Josh Shapiro, D-Montgomery, have failed to enact similar laws in the usual bipartisan tug-of-war with the Republican dominated Senate.

In July, House members by a bipartisan vote of 126-71 rejected the Senate’s version of House Bill 67 imposing stricter rules for teen drivers, citing its amendments weakened the bill regarding cell phone and texting bans, passenger restrictions and driver training hours.

The House version passed overwhelmingly in April 2009 would have made it a primary offense for a teen with a learner’s permit or junior driver’s license to text or talk on a cell phone while driving. However, the next month, the Senate amended the bill to make such conduct a secondary offense, meaning officers could only issue citations if a teen was already stopped for another traffic violation or an accident.

Hand-held cell phone bans for all drivers are on the books in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Utah, Washington and the District of Columbia. Utah has named the secondary offense careless driving.

Maryland’s law becomes effective Oct. 1.

Read the full article here.