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On April 22, Governor Doug Ducey signed legislation that prohibits texting while driving in Arizona. The legislation, HB 2318, bans the use of hand-held mobile devices while driving a vehicle and enforcement will take place statewide.
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According to Holbrook Police Chief Nathan Christensen, although the law is in effect, warnings but no citations will be issued until January of 2020. After the grace period, violators will be subject to fines ranging from $75 to $250.
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“I’m going to require that my officers do a written warning so we can log it and have an ongoing record of who’s doing it,” stated Christensen, adding that verbal warnings are difficult to track. He also wanted to let the public know that this law applies to any time a driver is in a moving vehicle regardless if it is a main street or a side road.
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“If you have to respond to a text and you’re the sole person in a car, pull over, do your duty and get back on the road so that you’re not distracted,” stated Christensen.
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Asked whether or not this is an issue that he has seen often, Christensen said, “It’s very common,” adding that his officers have had to respond to collisions that clearly involved distracted driving due to phone usage but people will rarely admit it.
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The law does provide an exception for law enforcement who are allowed to use their phone while driving in the course of duty but Christensen intends to have his officers utilize Bluetooth devices or an ear piece as a measure of safety.
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The law not only requires a driver to be hands-free, there are other stipulations. “Your phone can’t be anywhere on your body. You can’t have it sitting on your lap or between your legs on the seat. It has to be away from you. You can’t be supported with any part of your body.” For people who want to text or use a navigation app, they will need to pull to the side of the road to enter the information first.
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Christensen clarified that the new law only applies to the driver, not the passengers. “If there’s more than one person in the car they can be on a phone, they can be a navigator.
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“We can’t confiscate their phone. It doesn’t give us any right to get in their phone, just to cite them for using it while driving,” he added.
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In a press release by the Governor he states, “Too many lives have been lost because of texting and driving. Too many families have needlessly grieved the loss of a loved one due to a preventable tragedy. I called on legislators to provide a solution that will save lives and I am grateful for their efforts to do just that. This legislation takes important, clear and common sense steps to prevent texting and driving.”
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The measure was spurned by an incident in January of this year when Salt Rive Police Officer Clayton Townsen was killed in the line of duty after he was struck by a vehicle driven by a distracted driver.
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Arizona is the 48th state to ban texting while driving and the 18th to ban hand-held phone use while driving.
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