Arizona is rare among states in the union; it joins just Missouri and Montana in not strictly prohibiting texting while driving. At the state level, the only laws regarding cell phones for drivers specifically concern school bus drivers and drivers under 18.
Though a bill that would fine drivers for texting, House Bill 2069, has been proposed this session in the Arizona State Legislature, its fate remains unclear. Throughout the state, some counties and municipalities have taken it upon themselves to legislate where the state has not.
In 2014, Sedona passed a distracted driving ordinance. This past October, Yavapai County passed its own. But the law does not apply within individual towns throughout Yavapai County — it is only enforced by the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office in unincorporated parts of the county.
At a meeting on Jan. 15, Cottonwood Police Chief Steve Gesell made the case to the Cottonwood City Council that the city should follow in the footsteps of other Yavapai localities like Prescott, Prescott Valley and Chino Valley in passing its own ordinance modeled after the county one.
“There’s no question that distracted driving costs thou- sands of lives across the country, untold number of injuries and an incredible amount of property damage,” Gesell said. “It’s very difficult to quantify though, since a lot of it’s self-reported after the fact, after there’s a collision, trying to discern whether there was a distracted driving variable influencing the collision or not.”
Gesell pointed to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration attributing 3,477 deaths to distracted driving in 2015.
Gesell’s plan was met with agreement from the council.
“Most newer cars, you hook your phone up to your radio and you talk to your radio,” outgoing Vice Mayor Kyla Allen said. “The availability of that technology is there. We are able to never have an excuse to text or be distracted while we’re driving with cell phone so I would be completely supportive of this.”
Gesell also made a point to differentiate the ordinance that the county has passed from what has been discussed at the state level. The chief argued it would be important to make distracted driving a primary offense — meaning cops could pull someone over if they saw someone on their phone even if they were driving perfectly — rather than a secondary offense, which would require someone to already be stopped for a different violation.
“It’s a no brainer,” Councilman Michael Mathews said. “But we all know also that an ordinance isn’t going to stop anyone from doing anything.
“Enforce it. Start writing tickets. It’s a small town, word will get out and that I think is the best motivation to get people to think twice about doing something like that.”
The discussion at the meeting was a first reading of the ordinance, which must be brought up again at future council meetings before it can be approved or enacted.
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
