The Cottonwood City Council voted unanimously to pass Ordinance 656, a statute banning cellphone use by drivers within the city at a meeting on Feb. 5.
The statute imposes a $100 fine for the first offense and a $250 fine for repeat offenses within the same year. The ordinance gives the Cottonwood Police Department the power to pull over motorists who appear to be texting or otherwise using their phones, even without a separate violation necessitating the stop.
According to CPD Chief Steve Gesell, giving officers the ability to stop motorists for texting while driving, even if they were otherwise following the law, is necessary for allowing police to enforce it.
The Cottonwood ordinance is modeled after a similar one passed by Yavapai County in October. As of right now, Arizona is one of just three states without a statewide texting and driving statute, which Gesell pointed to as a major reason to pass this one when he first spoke in favor of the bill at a previous meeting on Jan. 15.
At the Feb. 5 meeting, Gesell pointed to progress on a statewide bill that is moving through the Arizona legislature [SB 1165], and said that he would be happy with that bill being enacted, making the Cottonwood bill unnecessary. However, he made the case that with the statewide bill’s fate still uncertain, it made sense for Cottonwood to move forward as planned, especially since Cottonwood’s bill is set to go into effect in 30 days [March 6], as opposed to the statewide bill that would likely not be enacted until the summer at least.
“It pretty much encompasses most of the facets that we had built into our ordinance,” Gesell said of the senate bill. “That certainly is not a done deal, so the staff recommenda- tion is to stay the course and we’ll see where it goes.”
“It’s a no-brainer,” Councilman Michael Mathews said at the initial Jan. 15 meeting discussing the bill. “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.”
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
