House lawmaker blasts law enforcement officials: They 'don't care about human life’
A Republican lawmaker has leveled an incendiary charge against the state’s law enforcement officials. They “don’t care about human life,” he declared. State Rep. Max Abramson (R-Seabrook) blasted the officials over their support for legislation that bans cellphone use while driving.
“The tragedy of texting bans is that people just hold their cell phone lower to avoid being seen by a cop, which increases accidents and gets people killed,” Abramson wrote on his Facebook page. “The Law Enforcement Lobby knows this, but pushed for it anyway because they don’t care about human life.”
“It’s not the rank and file cops,” Abramson added. “It’s the politically appointed officials who are pushing this authoritarian agenda.”
Abramson cited a 2010 study by the Highway Loss Data Institute, an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which found states that have enacted texting bans have not seen a corresponding reduction in automobile accidents.
“In fact,” the researchers reported, “such bans are associated with a slight increase in the frequency of insurance claims filed under collision coverage for damage to vehicles in crashes.”
Driver noncompliance is the likely reason the legislation has not reduced accidents, the report noted. “Many respondents who knew it was illegal to text said they didn’t think police were strongly enforcing the bans.”
Texting while driving is banned in 46 states and the District of Columbia. The Institute has not called for states to ease these restrictions. “Using a cellphone while driving is risky and can lead to crashes,” it concluded in a more recent report. “The research points to the need for a broader strategy to deal with the ways that drivers can be distracted.”
Abramson made headlines earlier this year when Speaker Shawn Jasper removed him from the House Criminal Justice Committee after Jasper learned of Abramson’s 2012 felony conviction for firing a gun during a party at his home.
Committee chair John Tholl (R-Whitefield) and vice-chair David Welch (R-Kingston) requested he be removed from the panel, which acts on legislation involving firearms, criminal sentencing and law enforcement.
“I felt then, as I do now,” Tholl wrote, “that a member of the Criminal Justice Committee should be free from convictions or other actions that would diminish the moral and ethical position of the committee.”