The Huron City Commission is moving forward with a four part ordinance to curb texting and distracted driving. The Commission approved first reading of the proposed ordinance Monday night with changes talked about last week. The first of which is making texting while driving a primary offense…
City Attorney Gerry Kaufman says a section in the ordinance on receiving text messages was removed because people generally can not control when they receive such a message. The second portion of the ordinance makes it a primary offense for those with limited experience at driving from using ANY device…
Emergency use of a device while driving is the only exception to Huron’s Distracted Driving ordinance. Bus drivers hauling passengers are also subject to a primary offense of caught using a phone or device while driving.. The final part of the four part ordinance is an all encompassing distracted driving ban….
A provision will be added to the second reading of the ordinance next week that would allow for police, fire and ambulance operators to use on board lap tops for work purposes. The Commission also requested Kaufman add a clearer definition of moving vehicle to avoid confusion over where a person can text, while a car is turned on. The resolution setting the fines was deferred to next week with the second reading. The fines are likely to be 100-dollars plus 60 dollars for court costs or a 160-dollar fine for the primary offense violations. The Distracted Driving violation is 15-dollars plus court costs for a 75 dollar fine. You can hear the entire 20 minute 30 second discussion on the Texting/Distracted Driving ordinance by selecting the audio player below…ddt first reading