Town Considering Texting Ban

Mount Pleasant may join the legions of municipalities and states across the country in banning texting while driving.

The council's police, legal and judicial committee voted 3 to 1 Monday to move ahead with a ban. Council members Thomasena Stokes-Marshall, Chris Nickels and Elton Carrier voted in favor of the ban. Mayor Billy Swails opposed the measure.

The ordinance will now head to the full council for a full vote, possibly on Nov. 13, but more likely in December. New laws require two votes before becoming law.

This isn't the first time Mount Pleasant has broached the texting-while-driving issue. Stokes-Marshall introduced a similar measure several years ago, but the measure failed after negative public input.

"We know that increasingly more and more people are texting while driving, especially young drivers," Stokes-Marshall said. "They are putting their lives and other motorists' lives at-risk."

Mayor Swails said he was against a town ordinance on the matter, though he supports the concept. He favored a statewide ban.

"I agree with everything you are saying," Swails said to Stokes-Marshall. "But I think there needs to be a state law."

The South Carolina House of Representatives passed a texting ban in 2011, but the law failed in the South Carolina Senate. Swails said he thought the Senate would pass the measure this year and that Gov. Nikki Haley would sign it. He favored waiting on the Legislature to act.

Nickels said he favored writing a strongly worded letter to legislators asking for action on a statewide ban. He voted for the local measure, but indicated he was in favor waiting to pass a town law only if the Legislature was not willing to act.

There were 658 car accidents in Mount Pleasant in 2011, but Police Chief Harry Sewell said only 5 were conclusively linked to cell phone use, but he thinks the number is higher.

"I think it's actually much higher than that," Sewell said.

But there are enforcement issues, he said. He favors increased enforcement of distracted driving rules already on the books.

Under new rules, if officers write a ticket "we'd have to confiscate the cell phone or subpoena the records," Chief Sewell said. "We're looking for driving behaviors already. If your distracted by your dog, the radio, cell phone or the newspaper, and crossing the center line, we'll write the ticket."

Committee members voted to draft a texting-while-driving ordinance. The full council gets a vote on the matter at a future meeting.