City of Enid Passes Texting While Driving Ban

The Mayor and Board of Commissioners met in special session at 12:00 p.m. today in the Council Chambers of the City Administration Building. The only item on the agenda was to amend the Municipal Code to include Oklahoma State law that prohibits texting and driving.
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The Mayor and 3 Commissioners discussed the ordinance and questioned City Attorney Andrea Chism about the number of votes needed to immediately pass the emergency clause.
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Commissioners Ron Janzen, Ben Ezzell and Rodney Timm, along with Mayor Shewey voted 4-0 to approve the agenda item. Without a fifth vote, the measure could not be immediately implemented because there was not a quorum. By Charter there needed to be 5 votes to implement the emergency clause. The ordinance will now have to be published and then will not take effect in Enid until 30 days after that date.
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Chism thought the ordinance could be published in the next couple of days pushing the actual implementation of the ordinance into late November or early December.
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I spoke with Enid Police Chief Brian O'Rourke and he explained to me that the Enid police department will not be pulling people over for specifically texting while driving although they could. Officers will be looking for erratic driving behavior including swerving and lane drifting before they will pull a driver over.
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The reason the local ordinance was needed was due to the fact that the city does not write state citations to enforce state laws — other than for driving under the influence when the subject cannot immediately be arrested, possibly due to hospitalization — so an arrest would have had to have been made and the case would have to have been handled in district court.
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State Law Begins Nov. 1

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A new bill was signed into law that bans texting while driving in Oklahoma. The new law goes into effect November 1st, 2015. Rep. Terry O’Donnell authored the bill banning texting while driving.
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House Bill 1965 makes texting while driving a primary offense, meaning an officer can pull over a texting motorist. A previous version made it a secondary offense, meaning the driver would have to be stopped for another infraction before he or she could be cited for texting.
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Oklahoma became the 46th state to prohibit a practice that law enforcement officials say is distracting and dangerous.
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Experts say it’s one of the greatest dangers on the road – being distracted by your cell phone, whether it’s texting, email, or being on social media.
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The way the law reads, you can’t text or update social media if your car is moving. While driving you also can’t check your email, use your phone to play music in your car, shoot video or take pictures.
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As for GPS, troopers say you can use your phone for directions, but if you look distracted by your phone, you can still get pulled over. Officers can seize cellphones as potential evidence but cannot access information from it without a warrant.
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You can do these things on your phone while stopped at lights. You will also be able to talk on your cell phone, but it is advised that you use a hands-free device through your radio or a headset.
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If you get pulled over and are cited, you will pay a $100 fine. A citation will not count toward revocation of a driver’s license.
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Read the final version of the bill here.
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