While the state of Arizona currently has no laws barring texting while driving, Tempe citizens will have to be wary after a recent Tempe City Council ordinance.
Tempe City Council passed an ordinance making texting while driving illegal if the driver poses a risk to themselves or others at their council meeting Thursday night. The ordinance passed in the council with a 4-3 vote.
Tempe City Council meeting is underway, council member @dschapira joining on the phone @statepress pic.twitter.com/0MnPgwODgh
— Jessica Suerth (@suerthjessica) September 25, 2015
Robin Arredondo-Savage, one of the council members who opposed the ordinance, said she did so because she was put off by its wording.
"Through some of my work and some of my investigation, I had a lot of concerns about the enforcement piece of it and the fact that it is not necessarily a primary violation," she said. "It doesn't say you can't text and drive, it says you can't text and drive and be unsafe."
Similar ordinances are already in place in Phoenix, Flagstaff and Tucson but Arredondo-Savage said she believes the state should enact a universal texting and driving ban.
"My biggest thing, I think, for me was (that) it's really hard for one city to carry that all in isolation," she said. "It would be much better to work with partner cities or sister cities and the region or the county to be able to do that...because we're all saying the same thing. So now we're all going to be saying different things and I think that was part of my biggest concern."
Under the new ordinance, violators will be subject to a $100 fine plus a penalty for the first incident, a $250 fine for the second incident and a $500 fine plus a penalty for all subsequent incidents within a 24 month-period.
Several council members, including Lauren Kuby, said she openly supported passing the ordinance because she believes it will save lives.
"Distracted driving is a major cause of death amongst young people in the U.S.," she said. "We have a disproportionate number of young people in Tempe because it's a college town and it will save lives.
Kuby said although the law will help curb her texting and driving behavior, her biggest concern was officers using the ordinance to profile and harass citizens.
"I don't want to be a hypocrite, I am known to drive and text at the same time," she said. "I know it's going to stop me. We just have to keep our eye on it to make sure this is not used to harass citizens but we know that 80 percent of our citizens want to see a distracted driving law because it saves lives."
Notably absent from Thursday's meeting was council member David Schapira, who was recently sent to the hospital after an incident with Sparky the Mascot during last Friday's game against the New Mexico State Lobos.
Schapira, who had recently underwent back surgery, was invited onto the field at halftime for City of Tempe night and began taking some photos on the field.
Sparky took the moment as an opportunity to hop onto the council member's back, which soon led to him getting carted off the field like an injured player.
University officials said the university will be picking up Schapira's hospital bill.
With a chuckle, Schapira ensured his loyalties still lie with the Maroon Monsoon.
"I'm still a huge ASU fan," he said on a conference call during the meeting.
Reach the reporter at Jlsuerth@asu.edu or follow @SuerthJessica on Twitter.
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