SPANISH FORT, Ala. — Spanish Fort residents could soon receive the message: Texting while driving is not only unsafe, it’s irresponsible and can lead to unnecessary traffic fatalities.

Following the impassioned plea by a Bayside Academy student during Monday’s regular City Council meeting, Mayor Joe Bonner said he would place a copy of Daphne’s ordinance outlawing the practice in council members’ mailboxes Tuesday.

“We’ll start working on it tomorrow,” Bonner told Jasmine Lee, who’s using her current reign as Alabama Junior Teen Queen to push for the public safety reform.

“It’s the same as driving drunk, and it slows down reaction time to that of a 75-year-old,” Lee told the council in asking the city to follow her hometown’s lead and ban the practice.

The Daphne teenager, who won her crown in July, immediately set about gaining the signatures of 150 local residents in favor of adopting the ordinance and presented it to the Jubilee City’s public works committee the very next month. Within 90 days, the Daphne City Council adopted the measure, and Lee said she won’t be satisfied until all neighboring municipalities acknowledge the practice for the threat it is.

“There have been deaths in Spanish Fort, Fairhope and Daphne from texting behind the wheel,” she said. “I want to try to save lives by informing them of the dangers of distracted driving.”

Daphne’s ordinance prohibits drivers from “using a wireless communication device to send, receive, download or view any electronic or digital content … including electronic mail, instant messaging or text messaging.” 

In 2010, the Spanish Fort council did amend its employee handbook to ban almost identical activity within city vehicles, but the ordinance as drafted does not apply to private citizens operating their own vehicles.

Under the Daphne ordinance, first-time offenders are fined as $100 or sentenced to 10 days in jail. Second offenses carry a $200 fine or 30 days in jail. Motorists cited with three or more violations are fined $500 or can be jailed for three months.

In other business, the council:

• Announced the City Complex Advisory Board meeting has been re-scheduled for 9 a.m. Feb. 22 in the conference room at City Hall.
• Heard a report from building official Bruce Renkert on the need to re-initiate nuisance-ordinance-violation proceedings against two non-responsive property owners. (Editor’s Note: See baldwincountynow.com for the complete story.)
• Adjourned the informal work session into executive session to discuss proprietary information regarding AT&T’s plans to roll out its U-verse services within the city limits.

 The next regular meeting of the council will begin with a 5 p.m. work session in the conference room at City Hall on Feb. 21, followed immediately by the regular meeting at 6 p.m. at The Gathering Place in the Prodisee Center.

(Staff video by Kelli M. Dugan)

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