Chatting away on a cell phone in traffic is no riskier in Jeffrey Kessler’s estimation than munching on a cheeseburger or singing along with a tune blaring out of the radio.

Text messaging is another matter, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee says.

Cell phone usage while driving has resurfaced as an issue in West Virginia, now that Gov. Joe Manchin has suggested a ban in response to a California commuter train crash, tentatively attributed to an engineer’s texting.

“Talking probably is no more distracting than singing on the radio or driving while you have a Big Mac on your lap,” Kessler, D-Marshall, said Friday.

“But with text messaging, you actually have to look at a keyboard and have your attention directed away from the road and is a much riskier activity to be engaged in while driving.”

Delegate Nancy Guthrie, D-Kanawha, says she is prepared to re-offer her bill from last winter to make the use of cell phones in traffic a secondary offense, punishable by a $25 fine. Secondary simply means a traffic cop needs some other justification to pull a driver over, such as speeding.

“But I’m not so sure that I don’t agree with the governor,” Guthrie said, alluding to Manchin’s suggestion that cell phone usage by motorists be banned.

“There are an awful lot of people who have had real close calls because they were either talking on their cell phone or texting, or they were almost hit by someone who was.”

Guthrie indicated she might want to discuss the issue with Manchin and other leaders for a possible revision of her original bill, which became bottled up as lawmakers sought to amend it several times.

No one disputes the fact that cell phone legislation is a hard sell.

“I know that what he’s proposing is going to meet with real stiff resistance because mine was a lesser version which would have brought us more in line with what we were asking student drivers to do,” Guthrie said.

“I think the governor’s heart is in the right place and even his head, considering what happened out in L.A. And I’m not sure that type of Draconian public safety legislation isn’t warranted in this day and age. I certainly would support the governor on that. I’m also going to introduce what was passed last year in hopes of not having it get buried in a Senate committee.”

“Not only have I been guilty of almost causing an accident, but I’ve been on the receiving end of people who weren’t paying attention to their driving,” the delegate said.

“I’m not trying to pick a fight with anybody. I’m not trying to single anybody out. All I’m saying is that 20 years ago none of us had cell phones in our car as we do now. There’s an obligation and a duty that goes along with that privilege.”

Kessler joined other lawmakers in the 2008 session, including Sen. Randy White, D-Webster, in seeking a ban on texting while driving.

With newer technology, such as Bluetooth and speaker phones, however, the judiciary chairman sees no need to ban talking on the wireless devices.

“Text messaging does make sense because it does divert your sight away from the roadway and you can’t drive while you’re blind,” he said.

A supporter of the cell phone ban, House Judiciary Chair Carrie Webster, D-Kanawha, was quoted by a Charleston newspaper as saying such legislation is difficult to enact due to the proliferation of the device that has turned the telephones into “a way of life.” Webster, however, sees a texting ban as an idea that could fly in the Legislature.

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com