Missoula Council Member Wanting to Broaden Cellphone Regulations while Driving

The Missoula City Council is discussing changing the wording of the City Ordinance regarding cellphone use while driving. Ward 2 Council Member Jordan Hess says that smartphones have developed more since the ordinance was written in 2012, therefore, the ordinance needs to be updated.

"The current ordinance only prohibits sending and reading text based messages," Hess said. "So, there's a loophole where people can send picture based messages or look at a web-app or things along those lines. We banned hand held phones because holding a phone to your ear was dangerous and caused distractions, and now we have a lot of activities that are a lot more dangerous than just holding a phone up to your ear. Those are not prohibited by the ordinance."

Hess says people have fought tickets because they weren't directly "texting" on their phone, and he wants to clear up these gray areas.

"There's a balance between safety and convenience," Hess said. "I don’t see us making any changes to the use of hands- free devices. Currently, hands-free devices are permitted and I don't see any change in that. My goal is just to broaden the ordinance just a little bit just so people can't get acquitted when they are doing something that is against the intent of the ordinance but not against the letter of it."

City Council will consider making changes over the next few months.