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Lawyers in the House with Montlick - Your Legal Podcast
047 Hands Free Georgia Law

047 Hands Free Georgia Law

Lawyers in the House with Montlick

At Montlick, we’re all too familiar with the devastation that comes as a result of texting and driving. No one should have to deal with an injury caused by a distracted driver. That’s why we teamed up with legislators like Georgia Rep. John Carson to institute a Hands Free Law in the state.

Our Montlick Director of Community Relations and Rep Carson are in the house to talk about what it took make this safe driving habit a law, and how many lives have been saved along the way.

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The purpose of this show is to provide general information about the law. Our guests will not provide any individualized legal advice. If you have a personal situation and need legal advice, contact us for your free legal consultation with a Montlick attorney.

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00:05	ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Lawyers in the House. With Montlick. Wish you had a lawyer in the family? Now you do. Here’s your host, Veronica Waters. VERONICA: Hey, hey, welcome, friends, back to another episode of Lawyers in the House. I’m Veronica Waters here with you on WSB. so glad to be with you for another special show.
00:27	VERONICA: I have to tell you that when I was a little girl, I was sure that I was going to grow up to be Wonder Woman. I had found this TV show starring amazing Linda Carter in all her glory. She was gorgeous and smart and talented and statuesque, and she could fight the bad guys and hang in there with the toughest of them. And I just knew I was going to be her when I grew up.
00:52	VERONICA: I made my own little golden lasso out of shoelaces and I would go outside and spin around and pretend that I was in my Wonder Woman costume and roping up the bad guys and keeping all the folks who were breaking the law away from us and away from all the good upstanding people. When I got a little older, I realized that maybe being a superhero was not quite in my career path. Well, you know, barring maybe to-be-determined some magic spider bite or a lightning strike or some Egyptian incantation that comes my way.
01:25	VERONICA: You know, my hopes are still high. But I did realize that as an adult, there is something that I can do every single day that makes me kind of a mini hero. And Georgia has a law on the books, which means that we all can be little heroes, day to day. Georgia’s distracted driving legislation is what we’re talking about today, specifically the hands-free law here in Georgia, which means that… and I don’t quite have the superpower of predicting the future, but I know that if we follow this law, we can save lives.
02:01	VERONICA: We’re talking with two very special guests today about Georgia’s hands-free law, one of them new to the show, one of them somebody you well know. Let’s start with her. This is Jenny Harty, who is a child safety advocate, and a certified child passenger safety technician. Jenny is the program director of iRideSafe. First of all, let’s talk about what iRideSafe is, Jenny. JENNY: So, thanks so much for having us. Of course. We’d love to be here and be on the show.
02:29	JENNY: iRideSafe is the public service program and the safety arm for the firm for Montlick. And it encompasses putting out the message for everything having to do with highway safety. And highway safety, for the firm, is a very important aspect of the firm and everything that has to do with saving lives and keeping our roads safe and making sure that everybody gets home safe.
02:59	VERONICA: In addition to being an advocate for safety, you are a mom of two. And I think we might say that it was motherhood and your experiences as a mother of two, at the time, very young girls which sort of launched this career of yours. Yes? JENNY: Yes, indeed. Our family endured a very tragic car crash, a very horrific car crash that spawned me into realizing how close we came to potentially losing our girls in this crash that we survived.
03:32	JENNY: And all of us did survive it, but it certainly changed the trajectory of my path of realizing what was important. And how close you can come to losing a life on the road by no error of your own, but somebody else’s choice. And, you know, they’re not accidents. Somebody made a choice on the road that they could have avoided. These accidents are 100% avoidable.
04:02	JENNY: And that is such an important message to get across. That because of somebody’s choice, somebody else potentially is going to lose their life or sustain significant injuries. And everybody has to be making wise, smart decisions. So that everybody can get home safe because everybody deserves to get home safe. And every mama deserves and has the right to tuck in their babies at night.
04:32	VERONICA: I love that. And to this day, you are one of the longest standing child passenger safety technicians Georgia has had, right? You’ve been doing that for more than 20 years now. JENNY: I have. VERONICA: Yeah. JENNY: I have. VERONICA: Which is totally phenomenal. Also next to me today is Georgia state representative John Carson, who hails from Cobb County. JOHN: That’s correct. VERONICA: Yes, and has been a CPA for all of his adult life. JOHN: A long time. VERONICA: And he’s a CPA who turned public servant.
05:03	VERONICA: First elected to office in 2011. JOHN: Yes. VERONICA: Yeah. Tell me why, how? JOHN: I just wanted to get more involved in my community and I certainly got it, I’ll tell you that. Going back to near the… Let’s see, the first time I was in session in 2012, they knew I had a financial background and so forth. And the then-majority leader knew that I understood risk allocation models and so forth.
05:30	JOHN: So, he put me on the insurance committee, and that’s actually… And I’ve served on that committee ever since. And that’s actually where the idea of the hands-free law came from. VERONICA: What do you like most about being in public service, being an elected official? Because you didn’t have to… you… listen, you won your seat first in a special election, right? JOHN: I did, yes. VERONICA: To replace a late lawmaker. JOHN: That’s correct. VERONICA: You didn’t have to run again. JOHN: No, my wife reminds me of that. VERONICA: So, what was it about the job that made you feel like this is where I need to be?
06:00	JOHN: I got to tell you, when we think of government, we think of Washington, D.C., and so forth. Really, the state government and the county governments have so much effect on our lives, whether it’s our traffic safety, whether it’s our child’s education, whether it’s healthcare, public safety, higher education. There’s so much that’s affected by our more local government, more so than D.C.
06:26	JOHN: And I just wanted to be involved. I got to tell you, what I realized after getting involved after having more career that’s much more business minded, is that if you want to step back and say, you know, I’m not going to get involved. It’s too controversial. It’s too toxic and so forth. What you do is you relegate that. You relegate it to the more extreme voices on both sides of the aisle. And it takes that calmer head in the room.
06:53	JOHN: It takes, and I think you see that in both sides of the political spectrum, particularly when the run up to various campaigns. I think there needs to be more participation in the process, but more of level headed and reasonable people in the process. VERONICA: Are you that calm head in the room, John? JOHN: Of course. Absolutely. VERONICA: All right, three calm heads in the room for this episode of Lawyers in the House. John and Jenny, thank you so much for being in the house with me, your girl, Veronica.
07:21	VERONICA: We’re talking about Georgia’s hands-free law today. And actually, not just the law itself, but the process of how it became a law. How many of us remember Schoolhouse Rock!, and I’m just a bill. JOHN: I do. VERONICA: Only a bill… JOHN: I was listening to it yesterday. VERONICA: Were you really? In preparation for our show? JOHN: Conjunction junction, what’s your function? VERONICA: Oh my God. Hookin’ up words and phrases and clauses… Don’t get me started, okay? ‘Cause I know all of the Schoolhouse Rock! songs. All right, so talking about how this bill became a law.
07:47	VERONICA: I think it’s fascinating that you say, John, this kind of started off as a twinkle in the eye of an insurance committee thing. It was about insurance rates? JOHN: That’s right. You know, my children… Beverly and I have been married now, let’s see, going on 18 years and our kids were in elementary school. Now they’re in high school. And this is not something that we were affected by, by our family directly. I just happened to be in a house insurance committee meeting back in January of 2017.
08:19	JOHN: So, going back, more than 6 years ago, and we found out based on some presentations that even though Georgia’s population went up from, say 2014… this is 2017 when we were looking at from 2014 to 2016, state population here in Georgia went up 3%. Traffic crash fatalities went up 35%. VERONICA: Whoa. JOHN: So, we said, wait a minute. There’s an issue here. And so, I used to… previously in my career, I worked for GE capital, and the light… the CEO, Jack Welch, would talk about peeling back the onion.
08:53	JOHN: Let’s get to the root of the problem. Peeling back the onion. Well, it turns out the accidents, just like Jenny said, are not accidents. They’re crashes. They’re avoidable. Well, what is going on? Well, people are getting rear ended. They’re running off the road. They’re hitting oncoming cars. What’s going on with that? Well, they’re not paying attention. Well, why are they not paying attention? Because they’re looking at their phones. VERONICA: And at the heart of that onion… JOHN: Yes. VERONICA: The distraction on the phone.
09:19	JOHN: And if you take a look at… and this is for you technology guys, if you take a look at the implementation of the smartphone, that happened probably what 2005 to 2010, but it really took off in about 2011, ‘12, ‘13. And then we started seeing the huge increase of crashes here in Georgia in 2014, ‘15 and ‘16. VERONICA: So, you crunched the numbers. JOHN: Of course. VERONICA: And said what?
09:48	JOHN: We have a major issue here. And I took a look at what other states are doing in regard to this. And what are they not doing? And so forth. And I took a look at the 15 states that at that time had hands-free laws. Out of those 15, 12 had… after they put in a hands-free law… And these are other states across the country, mostly in the northeast. After they put in a hands-free law to get people to put their phone down and really focus on driving for their safety and safety for other motorists…
10:12	JOHN: We saw that out of those 15 states, Veronica, 12 of those states had a decrease in fatalities. And six of those had a greater than 20% decrease in fatalities. VERONICA: Amazing. JOHN: Two other states didn’t really have enough data to make an assessment. It was so new. And one other statement- one other state had an increase in fatalities? I don’t know what’s wrong with Illinois. I cannot describe…
10:41	JOHN: But there was a clear trend that was undeniable. And this was not related to drunk driving. It was not related to drugs or speeding and so forth. What we can see over and over in data is driver inattention. VERONICA: Driver inattention makes headlines all of the time. The teenager who ran into the back of a tractor. The guy who was on his cell phone texting and ran into a church bus and killed 13 people.
11:12	VERONICA: These headlines are constantly in our faces and yet if I look around on the roads, I still see people, you know, somehow cradling a phone or doing something up there with the cell phone. And I think I’d like, later in the show, to maybe get into exactly what the law says and what it doesn’t say. But, you know, some people are ignoring the fact that this law actually is on the books, I think, or maybe they don’t know, and we can help them out.
11:39	JOHN: Well, I gotta tell you, the law went into effect, July 1st of 2018, and at that time, according to the Georgia governor’s office of highway safety, 98% of Georgia drivers, 5 years ago, knew of the law going in place. 99% of AAA drivers. So, I think most people are aware of it. I think it’s just so habitual and it’s so convenient to take a look at… okay, okay, I know I’m at a traffic light and we’re starting to move, but do I need milk? Do I need to go pick up the kids at soccer? VERONICA: Right, who just texted me? What did my husband say? Yeah, okay.
12:09	VERONICA: And we think everybody thinks that it’s not going to happen to them. Jenny, you, of course, never suspected that in 2002, you and your family were going to be hit by some logging truck. JENNY: Correct. VERONICA: Is that experience what sort of inspired and prompted you to get involved in this hands-free legislation? Because it’s… because of you and your lobbying that Madison’s Booster Seat Law came into effect in Georgia? JENNY: That’s right, that’s right.
12:34	JENNY: So, you know, I just have such a deep passion for highway safety and for saving lives because, as I said, I just know how close we came to losing our daughter. You know, she did sustain serious injuries and everybody from the tow truck driver to the paramedics to the, you know, the surgeons that even put her back together because she had to go through multiple surgeries.
13:03	JENNY: She’s, as I say, a little Humpty Dumpty that we had to put back together again. And, you know, we were frightened just at her significant injuries. And I can’t imagine, even after, you know, going through this process with the hands-free law and meeting families that lost their loved ones. It’s… it changes everything after you’ve lost a loved one. And… JOHN: And it happens in an instant. VERONICA: And it happens in an instant. VERONICA: And it’s a mirror that nobody wants to look into and see it happening in someone else’s family.
13:33	JENNY: Correct. VERONICA: Coming up next on Lawyers in the House, we’re going to talk a little bit more about how a bill becomes a law and how Montlick got involved to help it be that way. Stay with us. You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Join us 8 a.m. every Sunday if you want to listen live on 95.5 WSB.
14:02	VERONICA: Welcome back to Lawyers in the House with Montlick, I’m Veronica Waters here on WSB with special guests iRideSafe director Jenny Harty and state representative John Carson. Here’s Johnny. JOHN: Thank you. VERONICA: We’re talking today about Georgia’s hands-free law and first of all, John, I gotta just say, how does a bill become a law for those of us who are not familiar with Schoolhouse Rock!? JOHN: It was one of my favorite cartoons in the 70s.
14:29	JOHN: Basically, somebody comes to a lawmaker like myself that serves in the house or in the Senate. I serve in the House. And they come to me and say – or to one of my colleagues and say – we think this should be… law should be changed, or this new law should be introduced. And it’s very similar to D.C., where we say, that’s a pretty good idea. Why don’t we put that together? Let me talk to my attorneys at the capitol. We’ll put that together in a bill. We’ll introduce a bill. It’ll be assigned to a committee. And then if it passes through, it may get a full floor vote in the House or Senate.
14:58	JOHN: And if it does, then it goes to the other chamber. VERONICA: And it starts all over again. JOHN: And then they start the process all over again, just like the cartoon. And then if they like it, then the governor… and they – both chambers – agree, then hopefully the governor will sign it. VERONICA: Yeah. And that’s what happened here in Georgia. And I want to say kind of in record time, so to speak. JOHN: People said I made it look easy. It was not easy. VERONICA: What made it easier, John? JOHN: You know, Veronica, just to be honest with you, we have… there are hundreds of lobbyists at that state capitol.
15:31	JOHN: But my most effective lobbyists for this are not people with badges, not people with the, you know, the connections and so forth. My most effective lobbyists were the mamas fighting for their babies that they had buried, were the wives that had buried their husbands, were the all the families that have been touched by this tragic issue. Those were my most effective lobbyists. VERONICA: That’s how Montlick stepped in?
15:59	JENNY: So Montlick stepped in because, you know, at our firm, we hear all these types of tragic stories. And we never want to see these kinds of things occur on the roads. So, it’s in our DNA at the firm to do what we can to try to prevent these types of tragedies from happening. And so, it’s what spurred us on to lobby and to work with John and the families to pass this piece of legislation.
16:34	JENNY: And when we knew that this was kind of, you know, there was rumblings that this hands-free was going to take off is when I had reached out to John and said, you know, we want to get involved and what can we do? And I had this background myself of lobbying when I worked… and it took a lot longer than it did for hands-free to pass Madison’s booster seat laws. So, I had a background of knowledge of what it takes to make that happen.
17:01	VERONICA: Let’s talk a little bit coming up on Lawyers in the House about how unusual it was for a personal injury firm to be involved in such a safety law and about the hearts and minds changing that helped Georgia’s hands-free law get on the books. This is Lawyers in the House with Montlick on WSB. You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Join us 8 a.m. every Sunday on 95.5 WSB.
17:33	VERONICA: Welcome back to Lawyers in the House with Montlick on WSB. I’m Veronica Waters, here to tell you that if you missed the first half of the show. I know, I know, you’re kicking yourself but don’t worry we’ve got you. Just make sure that you tune us in on your favorite podcast platform. You can also find us on YouTube where you can not only listen to us, but you can see our smiling faces, and doesn’t everybody want that? I mean, is that what radio is missing or not? It’s pictures, right?
17:58	VERONICA: Well now you can get them. Kind of. Sort of. Kind of, sort of. On YouTube and remember that you can find us any time of the day or night at LawyersintheHouse.com. Take your pick of video or audio or maybe just dropping us a line right there on the World Wide Web. We’re talking today about Georgia’s hands-free law and in the house with us, state representative John Carson and Jenny Harty, director of iRideSafe with Montlick; and they worked hand in hand to get this law passed so successfully in our legislative session in 2018 and now it’s been 5 years since this law was on the books.
18:35	VERONICA: Jenny, how did y’all get this done together? Because listen guys, I know it’s no secret. Not everybody was on board with what seems like it should be kind of an obvious law, but not everybody was supporting this at the start. JENNY: Well you know, I learned early on, as very much just a mama on a mission, that common sense doesn’t always enter the doors of the state capitol.
18:59	JENNY: And… but we were very fortunate with John’s leadership, that we built a strong boots-on-the-ground and an army of families and lobbyists that were powerful in spreading the word and educating the legislature of how important this piece of legislation was.
19:26	JENNY: And the goal of the legislation was to save lives. And although that sounds like a very just kind of a general term, the importance of when you talk to a legislator like John is to express the importance that it’s not just a life. It’s the life of like your wife, your child, your mom, or your dad.
19:53	JENNY: That’s who we’re talking about. Because in an instant, in a millisecond, it could be you or your loved one, and that’s the mission here is… it happens in such a flash. VERONICA: How many of us have had that moment where we had to stop short? We had to slam on our brakes because of something that happened in front of us. We have seen not only maybe people being distracted in their cars, but a lot of us, if we’re honest, have had those moments where we came close.
20:22	JENNY: Exactly. VERONICA: Even through our own actions. And Montlick did such an amazing job with getting the word out to the community, getting that community buy-in with the countdowns on the billboards and all of the PR that was done. And incredible that a personal injury firm could be so vested in passing a law that would help save lives. And reduce injuries. John?
20:50	JOHN: Yes, yes. There were a number of groups… let’s just talk very quickly about the groups that are supporting this. There was hardly any… there were weren’t any organized voices against the bill. The people that were supporting were doctors associations, nursing associations, hospital associations, emergency medical personnel, Shepherd Center, great, fantastic facility here in Atlanta. As you can imagine, the insurance industry was all in support of this.
21:18	JOHN: Law enforcement was very much in support of us, from local, all the way to state law enforcement. Even the national safety council was supporting this. I even… I’m a CPA. I got a recognition from abate, the Georgia motorcycle group. I’ve never sat on a motorcycle you know. I don’t know what it feels like to wear that leather stuff, but… I don’t wanna… VERONICA: There’s still time. JOHN: Yeah. There were so many voices in support of this. Who was against it?
21:46	JOHN: The people that were thinking that I have a right to do whatever I want in my car, regardless of the risk to public safety, or even myself. That just, that just didn’t work well. What was so impactful about what Montlick did is they made this a retail message. As a CPA, I know that I can work on a bill and it might affect 20 or 30 or 100 people in the state if it’s a… if it’s a… if it’s a tax exemption or if it’s a zoning issue or this or whatever. This affects 6 and a half million drivers.
22:17	JOHN: And you don’t do that without a broad media campaign. I think we did some slots with Mark Arum. We did a lot of social media. You don’t do something for this many drivers and the number 8 population state in the country without a huge support of the community. Without a huge support from groups like Montlick, where you have all these billboards going up and saying, hey, this is coming. This is coming. Let’s remember to drive safe. VERONICA: You’ve done a lot of speaking, though, about this kind of thing with other states and other places.
22:47	JOHN: Yes, I’ve been involved in… VERONICA: Do you see the same kind of thing from personal injury firms there? JOHN: Not as much, not as much as I would like. And in fact, there has been some personal injury firms that have not been very keen on this idea in their state. I’m not going to say who, but it’s in the southeast. I’ve been invited to both Carolinas. I have been invited to Alabama. I’ve been invited to Missouri. Arizona, just state after state. And after they saw what Georgia did, which we’re kind of like a political battleground, right?
23:19	JOHN: And what they said is, you know what? This actually makes sense. Forget the left, forget the right, forget conservative, forget liberal. This makes sense, and it saves lives. VERONICA: Yeah, and still some folks are saying, no, no, we don’t want that law on the books. Let’s talk about some of those really personal stories, though, that because as you said, some lawmakers weren’t even in favor of it. JOHN: No, they weren’t. VERONICA: What did you see changing minds down there at the capitol, you guys? JOHN: You know, like I said, the most effective lobbyists that I had on my side were the families.
23:50	JOHN: One family in particular, the Clarks. Their daughter was one of the 5 nursing students that was killed on that crash on I-16 back in April of 2015. Is that right, Jenny? Yeah, Emily Clark, just a sweet girl. And to hear those stories about how that life can just be changed in an instant, just because of careless… just like what Jenny said, avoidable crashes.
24:21	VERONICA: Now, we don’t know if that driver was online at the time, I remember law enforcement saying. But he had a lot of adult material in the cab of his truck with him and his truck did not slow when he plowed into the back of their vehicle. And there were those five Georgia Southern nursing students in there and what a tragedy. We did stories on it. It was heartbreaking. JOHN: Absolutely heartbreaking. And you know, I’ve got two teenagers coming up right now. And they’re going to be driving soon. And if we did it for just to save one life, and I think Jenny would agree.
24:49	JOHN: If we just save one life, all that effort was worth it. VERONICA: Yeah. What do you remember most about that time, Jenny? JENNY: Well, you know, and it’s like John said, you know, it’s talking to the families and the fact that these families that came out and joined the mission to pass this piece of legislation, they were not doing it for their own benefit.
25:13	JENNY: They were doing it for the 6 million Georgia residents and those people that drive through our state, to save their lives so that they’d never had to live the life that they are living themselves now. VERONICA: Because they can’t bring their lost one back. JENNY: No, but they’re doing it for others. It’s the most selfless act because retelling that story time and time again, that’s painful, painful.
25:42	JOHN: Veronica, there were times in the House Judiciary Committee where… you know the old adage of you could hear a pin drop? After Mrs. Clark was done speaking about her daughter and how she was killed, you literally could hear a pin drop on the desk. VERONICA: Could you hear the minds changing in that moment? JOHN: You could hear them saying, we cannot go against this. We cannot disagree with it. We cannot prove that it won’t save lives. VERONICA: I’ve seen the video of that final vote in the House.
26:14	VERONICA: And the beautiful way that the speaker, Speaker Ralston, announced the vote and how the families were in the balcony and how all the lawmakers turned and applauded, not just themselves for passing the law, but the families that they knew that they were protecting and the memories of those who had been lost. And it was a really beautiful moment to see.
26:42	VERONICA: And Jenny, you were in that balcony. Are you getting misty over there? JENNY: Yeah, well, it’s powerful because, you know, these families, they put… they expose themselves, right? And for those months that we were at the capitol lobbying for this piece of legislation… and like I said, it’s just the most selfless act that they did. You know, they took off their own armor in a sense for everybody else.
27:07	JENNY: And so, you know, for the legislature and those lawmakers to acknowledge those families in that way, it is. It’s a beautiful and it’s a powerful moment. JOHN: I heard from some of my colleagues that, you know, they can ignore people with the badges and people that, you know, help us out when campaign time comes around and so forth and they sponsor this and so forth. I heard from several lawmakers that say, you know what, we can forget all these flyers and these talking points or these one-pagers or what the lobbyists are saying with this and so forth.
27:37	JOHN: I could not vote no with those families up in the gallery. JENNY: You know, one of the families that… she’s turned into a very dear friend of mine was Natalie Bacho. And Natalie’s daughter, their family was… JOHN: Abby. JENNY: Yes, Abby. Their family was going to look at Christmas lights in 2012. It was on December 22nd, and they were going through an intersection.
28:05	JENNY: And a young, I think he was either 18 or 19 years old… Ran through an intersection. T-boned. JOHN: He was on his phone. JENNY: He was on his phone and he T-boned the family. JOHN: And they T-boned Natalie’s and the family’s minivan in the middle, right where Abby was sitting. JENNY: Correct. On the driver’s side. And Abby gained her angel wings on Christmas Day. JOHN: They actually took her off a life support. JENNY: Yes. JOHN: That day.
28:35	JENNY: Yes. Yes. And the firm has actually has a really wonderful relationship with Natalie. They have a foundation called Abby’s Angels Foundation that the firm supports in lots of different ways. And you know Natalie does a lot of things in the community with, through the foundation, to educate young teen drivers on the dangers of distracted driving and she always says, you know, we do what we do so that other families don’t have to live the life that we live.
29:12	JOHN: Veronica, I just wanted to mention from 2018 to 2019… What’s the impact of this? Of all of our efforts? If you take a look at the number of vehicle crash or fatalities from crashes from 2018 to 2019 in Georgia, we actually went down 11%. And that’s considering how much… how many more miles people travel and how much more traffic population there is. There’s a statistic from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration called… per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.
29:40	JOHN: So, the more cars and the more farther those cars travel, the more miles that they travel. We actually saw a reduction for the first time in years in regard to the number of fatalities. JENNY: In 2018 is when we passed the… July of 2018, July 1st is when we passed the hands-free law. VERONICA: I just think it’s incredible, too, because we mentioned this earlier, but it doesn’t usually happen that fast. JOHN: Not usually. VERONICA: Sometimes these things take two or three sessions to get through, you know, JOHN: Okay, that too. Yeah, usually it takes several years for the fatalities to go down.
30:10	JOHN: But I can’t stress to everyone, how close we came to not getting this bill. VERONICA: Yes. Incredible. Thank you so much for telling us those stories, Representative Carson, Jenny Harty. We are coming up on what you’ve been waiting for all hour long. The MCA is on the way. The Montlick closing argument. Straight ahead on Lawyers in the House with Montlick. You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick.
30:40	If you want to listen to our radio show live, you can hear it every Sunday, 8 a.m. on 95.5 WSB. VERONICA: Welcome back to Lawyers in the House with Montlick on WSB I’m Veronica Waters here with state representative John Carson and Jenny Harty from Montlick’s iRideSafe, the director of that program. Two amazing folks here with me to talk about some heartfelt things. You’ve been waiting for this. So, without further ado, here it is.
31:09	VERONICA: The Montlick closing argument. Jenny, the floor is yours. JENNY: Well, thank you again for having us. I just, I think it is so important to emphasize that one of the goals of passing the hands-free law is to establish a culture change in our state. And that we all need to buy into the fact that by putting our phones down is the act of being responsible on the road.
31:37	JENNY: And that… through that is making the commitment that you realize that everybody else’s lives on the road is important. And everybody deserves to get home safe. VERONICA: Including yourself. JENNY: Yes. VERONICA: Yeah. Let’s talk about the nuts and bolts of the law, John. What can and can we not do? JOHN: House Bill 673, as passed in the 2018 session and signed by governor Nathan deal, went into effect July 1st of 2018.
32:06	JOHN: It says that, and I’m doing this for your YouTube viewers. You cannot hold the phone or support it with any part of your body. So, you can’t hold the phone. You can’t do this. VERONICA: You can’t have it in the crook of your shoulder. JOHN: You can’t do that. VERONICA: You can’t have it in your lap? JOHN: You can’t put it in your lap or whatever. You can also, you cannot text, you could not read text messages and you cannot watch video or take video. However, you can do voice to text.
32:32	JOHN: And you can operate a phone on a hands-free basis with, for example, a Bluetooth device. Many cars have a Bluetooth technology and capability. But even if they don’t, there are devices you can buy off of Amazon for $21. It connects to your phone with Bluetooth technology. It’s a little speaker and it clips to your visor. VERONICA: Can I have the phone out and do something on it at a red light or a stop sign? JOHN: Nope. No. And what we’ve seen actually is… we had some statistics come back from Georgia Department of Transportation.
33:03	JOHN: We actually saw about a 7 or 8 second more flow through per intersection per minute. And I don’t know if many people are aware of that, but if you take a look at how many cars go through an intersection in 60 seconds, we actually were losing about 7 or 8 seconds because people were just sitting there looking at their phones. VERONICA: Oh, yeah. I’m always stuck behind somebody at a light because I know they’re on their phones because the light’s green and I’m still sitting there. Bonk! Bonk! That’s me, that’s me, honking behind you.
33:27	JOHN: You know, after I’m not in the… not in the legislature anymore, Jenny is not as active as she is now and others that were fighting with us so hard… I think more than anything, what we’ve done is made people think. And we’ve caused, just what Jenny said, a cultural shift such that we know that this is not the right behavior. It’s not responsible behavior to other motorists. VERONICA: We have had a sea change here in Georgia and we’re one of a few dozen states to do so. Other states looking at it, but we were among the first.
33:57	VERONICA: Thank you so much for that, state representative John Carson and Montlick’s iRideSafe program director Jenny Harty. So happy to have you in the house with us today. Until next time on Lawyers in the House with Montlick. I’m Veronica Waters and remember you, too, can be a hands-free hero. See you next time. You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick, catch us live every Sunday 8 a.m. on 95.5 WSB.

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