Families Of Distracted Driving Victims Demand Answers At State House

BOSTON (CBS) - People who have lost loved ones to distracted driving went to the State House Wednesday to demand answers. They wanted to know why a hands-free driving law is stuck in the legislature.

When Maine's law goes into effect Thursday, Massachusetts will be the only state in New England still allowing handheld phone use.

Emily Stein knows the pain of losing a loved one to distracted driving all too well. "My father was killed in 2011 by a driver who was programming her GPS," Stein said.

Tom Brannelly lost his daughter in 2012. "The cemetery is only eight houses away. I go up once or twice a day," Brannelly explained. "I haven't missed a day in six years." 

On Wednesday, Emily, Tom and other safety advocates met with Senate President Karen Spilka to find out what's holding up a law that would ban handheld phone use when driving. They didn't get an answer that satisfied them.

"The legislature is dragging their feet and we're really going to hold them accountable," said Stein, who heads the Safe Roads Alliance.

Both the House and the Senate passed hands free bills recently. They went to a conference committee to work out the differences.

Where's the bill now? Sitting on the counter in the House clerk's office. The three state reps on the committee signed off on it, the three senators did not, meaning it can't move forward.

But State Senator William Brownsberger, a member of the conference committee, says the Senate is not satisfied with the bill yet.

"It's not for me to choose when to sign that bill," explained Brownsberger. "It's something that the Senate leadership team needs to be satisfied with."

The sticking point appears to be the bill's requirement to collect race, gender and other demographic information about anyone who is stopped for illegal phone use. The big concern over the potential of racial profiling.

In a statement, Senate President Spilka said, "This bill has been and continues to be a top Senate priority. I am very hopeful it will be resolved soon."