Washington State Distracted Driving Law meeting resistance

 A petition asking Washington state lawmakers to rewrite the new distracted driving law has over growing support.

As of Wednesday morning, the campaign had over 26,800 signatures of its 15,000 goal.

The Driving While Under the Influence of Electronics act went into effect last weekend. Lawmakers said the goal of the law was to reduce the number of collisions by drivers distracted by electronics.

According to the Change.org campaign, the petition takes issue with part of the law that makes distracted eating or drinking a secondary offense.

“As a working citizen and many others who commute long hours of driving throughout the State of Washington, I feel eating, drinking, and or grooming should be a citizens (sic) right when behind the wheel and feel this law needs to have more of the people's response then (sic) having our elected officials make decisions without consent from the people,” the petition description reads.

According to Washington state law, officers cannot pull over a driver for a secondary offense. A secondary offense can be added on as an additional violation if a driver is pulled over for a primary offense.

The first E-DUI offense will cost drivers $136. A second ticket will cost $234. The secondary offense under the law carries an additional fine of $99.

The petition asks lawmakers to rewrite the law to remove the secondary offense altogether.