Yuma City Council has taken the first steps to ban texting while driving.
According to the Yuma Police Department, more than one third of accidents last year were the result of distracted drivers.
Texting currently falls under the category of distracted driving, so does eating a cheeseburger and driving. Yuma doesn’t want to stop drivers from enjoying a burger. It does, however, want to stop people from texting while on the road.
That’s why Yuma’s mayor asked its police department to draft such a measure.
Dave Nash with the City of Yuma said the council wanted to be clear about what action it was banning given how messages can be composed, including speak to text.
"The words they seem to be centering on were having the potential offence be, 'manipulating an electronic hand held device in a sustained fashion,'" Nash said.
Nash said the council likely won’t vote on the proposed ordinance until June.
Last month, San Luis became the first town in Yuma County to pass a similar ban.
