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Bill Would Reduce Fines For First-Time Hands-Free Offenses

Robert F. Bukaty
/
Associated Press
In this Thursday, May 16, 2019 photo, a driver uses his cell phone while driving in Portland, Maine.

Maine lawmakers are considering a bill that would clarify how much a violator can be fined for using a hand-held device while driving.

The $50 fine for a first offense matches what lawmakers originally intended when they passed a “hands-free” distracted driving law last year, but it is a sharp decrease from the $230 imposed by the courts.

“The idea was not to raise money necessarily on this but to just get people’s attention, and the second offense would be $250,” says Democratic state Sen. Bill Diamond of Windham.

Diamond sponsored the original legislation and this most recent bill. He says, because of language in the first bill, the judiciary was asked to set the fines.

Diamond says when he learned how high the cost was for a first offense, he called Chief Justice Leigh Saufley, who put the amount on hold until the Legislature could act.

Ed is a Maine native who spent his early childhood in Livermore Falls before moving to Farmington. He graduated from Mount Blue High School in 1970 before going to the University of Maine at Orono where he received his BA in speech in 1974 with a broadcast concentration. It was during that time that he first became involved with public broadcasting. He served as an intern for what was then called MPBN TV and also did volunteer work for MPBN Radio.