Explanation
The purpose of this ordinance is to improve roadway safety for all vehicle operators, passengers, bicyclists, pedestrians, and other road users by prohibiting the use of mobile communication devices to compose, send, or read text messages while driving - a practice commonly referred to as texting while driving.
The ordinance also aims to prevent crashes related to texting while driving, and to reduce the fatalities, injuries, and property damage that often result. Moreover, the ordinance will likely have a positive impact on health care costs, health insurance and automobile insurance rates related to motor vehicle crashes.
This ordinance effectively prohibits the use of a mobile communication device to read, write or send text messages while driving, and likewise, the use any said device to send, read, create, play or interact with internet-based content.
The ordinance does provide an exception for persons using a phone or other mobile communication device to report a health or safety emergency, and it does not apply to any person using a mobile communications device in a vehicle while the vehicle is stopped and removed from the flow of traffic. The ordinance does not prohibit the use of mobile communication devices by passengers.
Any violation of the ordinance is a minor misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum fine of $150.00.
Title
To amend Chapter 2131 by enacting new Section 2131.44 of the Columbus City Codes, 1959, to prohibit the use of a mobile communication device inside a motor vehicle to compose, send, or read a text message while driving.
Body
WHEREAS, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that 80 percent of all motor vehicle accidents involve distracted drivers; and
WHEREAS, in 2008, nearly 6,000 people died in crashes involving a distracted or an inattentive driver, and more than half a million were injured; and
WHEREAS, according to the NHTSA, there are three main types of distracti...
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