Tucson texting ban to take effect April 1

February 24, 2012 • Posted by: Michael McKisson

The Tucson City Council voted to institute a ban on texting while driving during its meeting on Wednesday night.

The ban will go into effect starting April 1.

Bicycling advocates who spoke during a study session in January urged the council to make the law a primary offense —which allows officers to stop a motorist they suspect is texting, rather than looking for an additional violation to pull them over.

There was a brief discussion about whether the law should ban people from texting in a motor vehicle at all unless it was legally parked. But the law will only ban people from texting while in motion, meaning people can send text messages while they are waiting at lights.

The law will result in a $100 fine for texting while driving or $25o if the driver is involved in a crash while texting.

Councilwoman Karin Uhlich said she was pleased that the council was moving forward and said they could revisit it to make it stricter if needed.

Bicycle advocate Kylie Walzak said she was pleased that the council showed so much support for the ban.

She said she thinks the ban is an important step in curbing distracted driving in Tucson.

Walzak said the city needs to start looking at ways to lower speeds around Tucson and make driving safer.

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9 comments

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Janeers

Stupid idiots! Just keep giving your freedom away to moronic, selfish politicians in the name of safety. I'm running with scissors, got to make me pay the city money because that will make it all better!

Steve L

Next they're going to tell me I can't field strip my AR15 while driving either!

Mark Parity

Now if only they'd ban bicyclists, slow drivers, and people who dart across the road instead of waiting for the "walk" "don't walk" sign... we'd truly remove the menace from the road.

Steve L

We just need the Google to hurry it up with those Self-Driving cars

Ed Beighe

Phoenix banned texting in 2007: http://azbikelaw.org/blog/phoenix-bans-text-messaging/ Hopefully this will kick the state into taking action. city-by-city rules are annoying.

PsiSquared

It's about time. Now, if they would only extend the ban to all cell phone use by a driver....

Steve L

As long as I can have a cigarette in one hand, eat a burger with the other, put on my makeup with the other hand, all while shifting gears with the other, I'm okay with it. I think I lost count of something there.

PsiSquared

Well it's one less problem, potentially, and that's better for cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers. Doing nothing because there are other potentially equally dangerous, similar issues isn't an option. We should take the victories we get.

Steve L

I agree, I was just being cheeky. I've been almost hit a few times from people on their phones. There was a recent stories showing CA's cell phone ban has helped (http://bit.ly/wv85Wb ), so hopefully it will make a difference here. We just need everyone in self driving cars already (http://bit.ly/H6kKh8 ).