TRENTON — Applying eyeliner, eating a breakfast sandwich, scolding the children, talking to the dog, gazing too long at Christmas lights — these and who knows what other ordinary actions — could soon get you fined in New Jersey … if you do them while driving.

A state lawmaker wants to expand New Jersey’s ban on using hand-held cell phones while behind the wheel to include anything that could be considered distracted driving.

The Assembly transportation committee today voted 12-0 to approve a bill (A4461) sponsored by committee chairman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) that would ban drivers from engaging in "any activity unrelated to the actual operation of a motor vehicle in a manner that interferes with the safe operation of the vehicle on a public road or highway."

The activity could include eating, applying makeup, playing a video game or any number of a hundred other things (use your imagination here). The bill does not go into specifics, but leaves it up to police.

"Certainly there’s no law against having a video screen installed on your dashboard and watching movies," Wisniewski said. "All of the examples are ridiculous, except you see them happening, and you read about them having happened."

The penalties would be the same as for cell phone use: $200 for a first offense, $400 to $600 for a second and $600 to $800 for a third. After a third offense, a judge would also have the option of suspending the driver’s license.

The bill’s prospects for becoming law are uncertain. With less than two months left of the legislative session, no companion bill has been introduced in the state Senate, which would also need to pass it in order to send it to the governor’s desk.

Steve Carrellas, New Jersey representative of the National Motorists Association, said the proposal is too vague.

"I can’t adjust the radio anymore? I can’t change the CD? I can’t look at a map?" he said. "This is a whole set of undefined behavior that someone could perform in the car that could be considered not driving."

Added Carrellas: "It’s behavior as opposed to outcome. The behavior can result in a bad outcome, but there’s no guarantee that’s the case. But what I’ll applaud him on is for trying to figure out how to deal with distracted driving."

Wisniewski, who said the bill is modeled after New Hampshire’s law on negligent driving, said police can already pull drivers over for many of the behaviors that would be covered under the bill and write them up for careless or reckless driving. But, he said, police might be hesitant to cite those violations if they felt it might not stand up in court.

"If you create an offense of distracted driving, it’s pretty easy to define what distracted is: not watching the road," Wisniewski said.

Wisniewski said it makes more sense to create a wider category of distracted driving than legislate individual distractions as they arise as problems.

"Twenty years ago, there were people in the Legislature who could not contemplate what we’re talking about today," he said. "And 20 years from now there will be a whole different set of distractions. Using your transporter beam while driving, for instance."

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