Hamilton warms to cell phone ban

(HAMILTON)- They've talked about the idea before. But this time around the Hamilton City Council sounds more receptive to following other Montana cities in banning the use of cell phones. 

Six Montana cities have already approved bans on cell phones. Some, like Missoula have merely banned texting. Others like Bozeman had banned cell use behind the wheel with some exemptions. Whitefish is among the cities that have limited all kinds of use. Montana doesn't have a cell phone rule on state and county roads. 

At a committee work session Tuesday night, Hamilton city council members discussed whether to follow suit.

Police Chief Ryan Oster told council members the city hasn’t seen a “rash of accidents” because of cell phone use behind the wheel. But he said the latest national statistics suggest 18% of the “distracted driving” fatality accidents nationwide 2-years ago did involve cell phones to some extent. 

 Councilman Al Mitchell believes Hamilton should go ahead and develop a ban, even if the city is only seeing “near misses”.

“And it sounds like there’s a federal government push that’s going to actually come down the pike anyway," Mitchell told his fellow council members. "So why not be progressive and instead of kicking and screaming and being Montanans about our individual rights… there is no right to own a cell phone and talk on it while you’re driving as far as I know.” 

Mitchell’s fellow council members generally agreed with his stance, although some weren’t sure how rules could be drafted that would cover today’s advanced phones with their multiplicity of features.

The council took no immediate action, but asked staff to do more research. 

Comments

[Jackie]

Bluetooth and voice activated programs are equally be distracting in my opinion due to the fact that your mind isn't fully focused on driving but on your conversation. It still involves multi-tasking mentally.

Ford Orange County