HUDSON, N.H. — Selectmen Chairman Roger Coutu wants newly anointed House Speaker — and longtime fellow town resident — Shawn Jasper to keep his hands off the state’s new ban on handheld-cellphone use by drivers that takes effect July 1.

Infuriated by a newspaper report that Jasper, an 11-term Hudson representative and former selectman, had legislation drawn up to repeal the ban on New Hampshire drivers

using handheld phones, Coutu persuaded a majority of selectmen to send a letter from the board to state legislators demanding they leave the ban in place.

“I was shocked to read the speaker of the House has already introduced a bill to repeal this,” said Coutu at the board’s Dec. 16 meeting. “For me, this is serious business.”

Coutu said he sees it all the time — too many drivers are focusing on their phones instead of the road.

“I’m amazed. I never knew how many people there are driving with their phone in one hand, not paying attention, and going in the wrong lane. I see it every day,” Coutu said. “To think the wisdom of the House was to address this serious problem that’s costing hundreds of lives across this country, and now to suggest this should be repealed? That is insane.”

Coutu said he was also outraged by Jasper’s action as a fellow Republican party member.

“This, to me, was one of the most important pieces of legislation passed by the House of Representatives in 2014, and (Jasper) has the audacity to want to repeal it?” Coutu continued. “What are the Republicans going to gain, if two or three more kids in New Hampshire die because they were on the cellphone? Where is that going to get our party? This is nonsense.”

Coutu’s proposal to send a letter to legislators denouncing Jasper’s repeal effort passed, 4-1, with Pat Nichols, Rick Maddox and Nancy Brucker voting along with Coutu in favor. Selectman Ben Nadeau cast the sole “no” vote.

Jasper told The Sun on Wednesday that he was taken aback by Coutu’s criticism, considering the repeal legislation became a “low-priority item” after Jasper’s recent appointment as speaker.

“I wish Roger called me about this, because though (the repeal) has been filed as a legislation request, it hasn’t moved forward and won’t be moving forward under my name,” Jasper said.

He said he is seeking to recruit a fellow House member to take over the lead sponsorship of his requested draft legislation calling for the repeal of the law banning handheld-cellphone use by drivers.

“I haven’t withdrawn it while I see if somebody, who indicated to me their interest in sponsoring it, wants to take it. But if not, it’s just going to die,” Jasper said.

Jasper said driving with a phone to one’s ear is not necessarily dangerous.

“I talk on the phone all the time when I’m driving, but I’m watching the road,” Jasper said. “I’ve always said that if I’m talking on my phone I’m paying more attention to the road than if I have someone in the passenger’s seat because then I’m turning my head to look at them,”

The July 2015 handheld ban “just goes too far” and is “ridiculous,” Jasper added.

“This essentially doesn’t allow you to touch your phone at all, and yet people are driving with hot coffee and doing all kinds of (distracting) stuff,” the speaker said. “How are we going to enforce this new law when we already have stuff in the rulebooks that we can’t enforce?”

A better approach to making the roads safer would be to stiffen the penalties for violating the state’s distracted-driving law already on the books, Jasper argued.

“If police see somebody who is talking on their phone and obviously isn’t paying attention — that’s distracted driving,” Jasper said. “But if you’re talking on your phone as a police cruiser comes up behind you and you pull right over, well, that means you’re paying attention to driving. It’s a matter of common sense.”

Maddox, the Hudson selectman best known for his consistently libertarian views, expressed doubts about the enforceability of the new ban.

“Mr. Chairman, people already have the responsibility to do the right thing, and I don’t think you can enact a law that’s going to make them do a better job of that. And we don’t have enough police officers in the state to enforce such a law, even if it was on the books,” Maddox said. “I don’t disagree with you, so I support your motion, but I’m not sure it’s going to gain us anything in the long run.”

Nichols was quick to support Coutu’s proposal, citing her recent encounter with a one-handed driver who nearly crashed off the roadway while concentrating on their phone.

“Somebody coming the other way beeped at them, so they finally put the phone down,” Nichols said. “You’re taking your life in your hands when you go out driving these days, you really are.”

Siding with Jasper’s belief that the ban on handheld phone use by drivers should be repealed, Nadeau noted a major difference between texting and talking on one’s phone while driving.

“I’m OK with banning the texting and driving,” Nadeau said. “But using your phone with your hands, a lot of people do it now, and they don’t have the technology for the (hands-free) Bluetooth. So I would not support (the handheld phone ban).”

Fourteen states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands currently prohibit drivers from using handheld cellphones with “primary-enforcement” laws, meaning police may cite a driver for the offense without another traffic offense taking place.

The 14 “primary-enforcement” states that New Hampshire will join on July 1 include: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.

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