Cellphone ban while driving looms in Chapel Hill

CHAPEL HILL -- Cellphones are one step closer to being banned for drivers in Chapel Hill.

The council voted 7-2 Monday night to continue discussing a ban on talking on cellphones while driving in Chapel Hill.

Council members Gene Pease and Matt Czajkowski dissented. Pease said the issue should be regulated by the state, and Czajkowski questioned whether the town has the legal authority to enact a ban.

The ban would prohibit hand-held phone calls or both hand-held and hands-free calls while driving. The ordinance would apply to all streets townwide, including state-owned roads. Drivers would be allowed to make emergency calls, and calls with a spouse, parent or child. Violators would be fined $25.

Last year the state attorney general said the town did not have the authority to enact a cellphone ban. Town Attorney Ralph Karpinos disagrees. In a memo, Karpinos wrote that there is no statutory or case law that directly prohibits a local ban.

Czajkowski said it would be folly for the Town Council to pass a ban without confirming that it had the jurisdiction to enforce one.

"If we lead or we attempt to lead and the state concludes subsequently that we didn't have the authority, we've done more harm than good," he said.

Karpinos said if someone challenges the legality of the rules with a lawsuit, he believes the town could prove its authority.

Council member Jim Ward supports the ban, but said the fine should be raised to $100.

"I think the repercussions of an error caused by talking on a cellphone is much greater than that level of fine, and I think it would help people pay attention if they were burdened by a bigger fine than that ($25)," he said. In the current draft of the rules, drivers could talk on the phone while they're stopped at a light. Ward said that should be prohibited too.

"I would say that that's not OK too, just because you're getting too close to the edges where it would be a violation," he said.

Pease applauded former council member Joe Capowski and council member Penny Rich for initiating a conversation on the dangers of driving while talking on a cellphone, but he disagreed with a full ban that includes hands-free calls.

"I still do believe, however, it's a state issue ... but I think there is some value we started this conversation," Pease said. "I can't quite get my arms around going to a full ban. I don't know how we'd ever enforce it."

Several members of the public, including Capowski, spoke at Monday's hearing.

"It is past time to face the fact that distracted driving is a serious safety risk," he said.

The risk is not just about the distracted drivers who are talking, but about everyone else on the road, he said.

Karen Turner's brother Joel Severson was killed while he was driving on Interstate 40 in 2010 when he was hit by a driver who was texting.

"My brother was a good man," she told the council. "He lived a life most of us only dream about, and he deserved better."

"I cannot tell you how I feel when I'm driving down the road and see another car swerving in my lane only to see they're on a cellphone," she added.

Ben Levitan, whose website says he is a cellular phone expert who testifies in personal injury cases, told the council he has 25 years of experience designing cellphone networks.

In the last two years he said he's aware of 25 cases like Turner's.

"This is a nationwide epidemic," he said. "A cellphone is not a distraction. It's an impairment."

Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt cut him off when he started to talk about how cellphone companies could block calls, saying he wanted to keep comments focused on the town's proposed ban.

The council will consider the ban March 12.