No talk, No drive Senator rear-ends while talking on cell

No talk, No drive Senator rear-ends while talking on cell
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Category: Life

State senator rear-ends Vallejo woman while talking on cell phone
Medianews Group report
Article Launched: 05/19/2007 08:46:15 AM PDT

Migden: Voted last year to impose a $20 fine for talking on cell phones while driving.
A Vallejo woman reportedly suffered minor injuries Friday when her car was rear-ended by an SUV driven by a state senator talking on a cell phone while driving through Solano County.

State Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, was driving her new state-issued 2007 Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV at 10:40 a.m. on eastbound Highway 12 at Beck Avenue when she rear-ended Ellen Butawan, 31, of Vallejo, California Highway Patrol Officer Marvin Williford said.

Butawan's 2005 Honda sedan was slowing behind a 2003 GMC Savana van that had stopped at a red light, Williford said. The impact forced Butawan's car into the rear of the van, driven by Bob Jordan, 57, of Turlock.

Butawan complained of pain after the three-vehicle smashup and went to NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield after the crash as a precautionary measure, Williford said.

Migden, 58, accepted blame Friday for the accident.

The collision remains under investigation, but it appears Migden took the wrong exit, inadvertently going on the eastbound I-80 connector onto eastbound Highway 12, Williford said. She was looking for a way to get back onto the freeway when she crashed into Butawan's vehicle, he said.

Migden's sobriety was verified by officers using a hand-held
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breath-testing unit, even though there was nothing to indicate she had been drinking, Williford said.

"It was just a precaution," he said.

Her SUV, which she recently swapped for her taxpayer-funded 2005 Cadillac STS, sustained a dented front grill that kept the hood from closing properly. It was towed to the Fairfield CHP office, where officers used a coat hanger and duct-tape to secure it, before Migden drove it away to a meeting in Marin County.

Migden last year voted for a new law that takes effect in July 2008 that will impose a minimum fine of $20 for anyone caught using a cell phone while driving without a headset, ear bud or other technology that frees both hands.