Cleveland Toughens up on Texting While Driving

Effective July 19, 2009, the Council of the City of Cleveland passed Emergency Ordinance No. 105-09 (to supplement the Codified Ordinances of Cleveland at Section 433.09) and Resolution No. 110-09, which together prohibit text messaging (receiving or reading -- including emails) while driving a motor vehicle in the City of Cleveland, and urge the General Assembly of the State of Ohio to examine other states' regulation of cell phone use and text messaging while driving and consider passing similar legislation.

The penalties for violations are tiered as follows: $100 for the first offense; $250 for the second offense; and no more than $500 for the third and subsequent offenses.

What does this mean for the City of Cleveland? Hopefully safer roads and less accidents caused by individuals too preoccupied with an incoming text to pay attention to the dozens of 1 and 1/2 tons of metal, fiberglass, and plastic (and let's not forget gas) whizzing by them on the street. Does this solve the problem of other kinds of absent drivers? Absolutely not. There will still be the woman in the green car putting on her makeup; the man in the silver sedan stuffing his face with a breakfast sandwich; the teen reaching under the seat of the red pickup to grab whatever rolled off of the passenger-side seat; or the suit in the black SUV squinting at the GPS. What's important is that an effort is being made to update our laws with the technology (there's still a ways to go), and that our Council Members are listening to the people of Cleveland who fear for the lives of its denizens.

Somewhat related, Cleveland was recently voted the U.S. city with the least amount of road rage (second only to Portland, OR). See all of the "In The Driver's Seat Road Rage Survey" results.

The full language of Section 433.09 is listed below:

ORDINANCE NO. 105-09
Council Members Reed, Conwell and Mitchell

AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE
To supplement the Codified Ordinances of Cleveland, Ohio, 1976, by enacting new Section 433.09 prohibiting the use of wireless handsets to text message while driving.

WHEREAS, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association, four states -- Alaska, Minnesota, New Jersey and Washington -- outlaw text messaging while driving and legislation is being considered in 16 other states; and

WHEREAS, mobile texters in the United States sent 158 billion messages in 2006, up 95 percent from 2005, according to industry statistics cited by the New York Times; and

WHEREAS, according to a 2006 study by Nationwide Insurance, 19 percent of drivers use text messaging while at the wheel and that number jumped to 37 percent among drivers aged 18 to 27; and

WHEREAS, a national American Automobile Association survey of 1,000 16 and 17-year-old drivers found that 46 percent send text messages with their cell phones while driving; and

WHEREAS, each year, 21 percent of fatal car crashes involving teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 were the result of cell phone use and this result is expected to grow as much as 4 percent every year; and

WHEREAS, in one tragic accident in Canandaigua, New York, police found that text messages were sent and received on a 17-year-old driver's cell phone moments before the vehicle slammed head-on into a truck, killing her and four other recent high school graduates; and

WHEREAS, this Council believes that regulation of text messaging while driving is necessary for the health and safety of Ohio citizens; and

WHEREAS, this ordinance constitutes an emergency measure providing for the usual daily operation of a municipal department; now, therefore,

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CLEVELAND:

Section 1. That the Codified Ordinances of the City of Cleveland, Ohio, 1976, are hereby supplemented by enacting new Section 433.09 to read as follows:

Section 433.09 Text Messaging While Driving

(a) "Text message" means a message sent or received via a process using wireless handsets. For the purposes of this section, an e-mail shall be considered a "text message."

(b) "Wireless handset" means a portable electronic device capable of transmitting or receiving data in the form of a text message.

(c) No person shall use a wireless handset to compose, send or read text messages while driving a motor vehicle in the City of Cleveland. Any person driving a motor vehicle who is operating a wireless handset while such vehicle is in motion in the City of Cleveland shall be presumed to be composing, sending, or reading a text message. The presumption created by this subdivision shall be rebuttable by evidence showing that the driver was not composing, sending or reading a text message.

(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision c, this section shall not be construed to prohibit the use of a wireless handset inside a motor vehicle to compose, send or read a text message by:

a. any (1) law enforcement, public safety or police officers, emergency services, (2) first aid, or emergency medical technicians or personnel, or (3) fire safety officials, while performing official duties;

b. a driver using a wireless handset to contact an individual listed in paragraph one of this subdivision to report an emergency situation; or

c. a driver using a wireless handset inside a motor vehicle while such vehicle is parked, standing or stopped and is removed from the flow of traffic, in accordance with applicable laws or rules, or is stopped due to the inoperability of such vehicle.

(e) Penalty. Whoever violates this section shall be fined one hundred dollars for the first offense, two hundred dollars for a second offense, and no more than five hundred dollars for each subsequent offense.

Section 2. That the provisions of Section 433.09(e) shall take effect ninety days after the effective date of this ordinance.

Section 3. That this ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure and, provided it receives the affirmative vote of two-thirds of all members elected to Council, it shall take effect and be in force immediately upon its passage and approval by the Mayor; otherwise it shall take effect and be in force from and after the earliest period allowed by law.