OC Sheriff discusses Distracted Driving Ordinance

In an effort to keep residents safe, Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw is proposing a distracted driving ordinance.  At Tuesday night’s meeting of the Oconee County Council, Sheriff Crenshaw presented the ordinance, which forbids the use of any cellular or other portable electronic communication device while operating a moving vehicle.  “The proposal has been a process that we have undertaken over the last year when we starting looking at different ordinances to address no texting while driving.  My concern with some of those ordinances was the difficulty in enforcing it and some Constitutional issues, so we continued to research it.  The City of Greenville passed an ordinance a couple of months ago that dealt with texting and talking, the enforceability of it was very reasonable; however, I thought it was a little too extreme.  Therefore, we put our heads together and came up with this one that we presented to Council that basically is an ordinance for the unincorporated areas of the county that will address no texting or talking on cell phones or devices while the vehicle is moving.  If someone is stopped at a red light or stop sign, they can dial a number or send a text, but when that vehicle is in motion they have to be hands-free at that point.”  The Oconee County Council gave preliminary approval to the distracted driving ordinance.  Sheriff Crenshaw explains that the only exceptions to the ordinance are emergency uses and hands-free devices.  Preliminary approval of the ordinance means it would become law after two more public readings.