Montgomery rule shuts down car cell use

Published 12:00 am Thursday, August 5, 2010

MONTGOMERY(AP) — Montgomery motorists will need to keep phone conversations outside of the car now that the city council has passed an ordinance making hand-held cell phone use while driving a secondary offense.

It also cracks down on texting. The distracted driving ordinance takes effect in the coming weeks.

The City Council’s passage of the ordinace on a 6-1 vote followed weeks of debate on an action that all members of the council and the mayor have confessed to doing.

Now city attorney Wallace Mills says if they do it while violating one of the so-called “rules of the road” — for instance, running a stop sign while texting or holding a phone to talk — they can be cited.