Texting while driving bans are becoming commonplace across the country, particularly at the state level. But as a new report demonstrates, local communities can face challenges when trying to reconcile their own laws with those of the state as a whole.
The city of Twin Falls, Idaho is one such city attempting to prevent confusion when enforcing a texting ban. The city has had a local ban on texting and driving in place for quite some time. Now, though, the dangerous practice has become illegal all across the state thanks to a law recently passed in the State Legislature. This new law is scheduled to be put into action on July 1, and at that time, Idaho motorists can expect to pay a fine should they be caught texting while driving.
In order to reconcile the two versions of the law, the city council plans to discuss repealing the local ordinance currently in place. They are doing this in order to make things easier on officers who will be expected to enforce the new state ban. Although the state and local bans are similar, slight differences could make issuing citations more complicated than it has to be. The Twin Falls Police Department has voiced support for the repeal of the local ordinance.
Should the council decide to repeal the law, it would stay on the books until the end of the month, at which point the statewide ban would be enacted.