omg!: tn drvr txtng gtg?

Georgia lawmakers will soon consider a measure that would ban teenage drivers from texting and making calls on their cell phones while driving -- and suspend the licenses of violators found at fault in accidents.

Georgia would join 17 other states and the District of Columbia that have passed cell phone restrictions for teen drivers if legislators adopt the measure during the legislative session that begins in January.

The measure's Republican sponsors say it would help keep Georgia's rookie drivers safe from distractions that could lead to fatal accidents.

The House plan would ban motorists under the age of 18 from talking or texting while driving, except in the case of an emergency such as a life-threatening situation or a call reporting a road hazard.

Violators would be fined up to $175 for the first offense and up to $500 for a second one. Drivers found at fault in an accident while violating the law would have their licenses suspended for 90 days. Second offenders would lose their licenses for six months.

The bill could be expanded to include all drivers.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of transportation issues.

(AP)

'Unbreakable': driver walks away from truck-train crash

It's rare, but it happens. No one was hurt when a truck hauling lumber collided with a moving freight train in south Georgia.

The Georgia State Patrol said 44-year-old Nathaniel Swan of Albany slammed into the railroad car at a crossing in rural Terrell County. It happened just before 10 a.m. Monday.

Troopers said the crash occurred when Swan swerved to avoid a pickup truck that had stopped at the railroad crossing.

Swan was walking around the wreckage when emergency crews arrived at the scene.

The rail car was hauling sulfur and had minor damage. But Swan's 18-wheeler was heavily damaged.

(The Associated Press)

12 die on Georgia roads during holiday weekend

12 people died on Georgia roads during the holiday weekend just concluded. The Georgia State Patrol reports 2,480 traffic accidents and 721 injuries for the period of 78-hours from Friday evening to midnight last night. The 12 people who died on Georgia’s roadways was a number under what the State Patrol had predicted--19.