For Immediate Release
Feb. 18, 2011
Dublin City Council Passes Texting Ban
Ban strengthens existing distracted driving law
DUBLIN (Ohio) – The City of Dublin joins several other central Ohio communities in battling texting and driving by passing a texting ban ordinance voted upon by Dublin City Council.
The ban strengthens the existing distracted driving ordinance by making texting a priority offense, a fourth degree misdemeanor. The ordinance becomes law on March 16, 2011. The ordinance prohibits “sending, reading or writing a text message or accessing the Internet while driving.”
According to Dublin City Council Member Mike Keenan, the Council member who initiated the texting ban discussion this fall, Council prioritized an education and awareness campaign launched prior to the holidays to help create awareness that texting kills.
Keenan’s daughter, a student at Miami University of Ohio, lost a friend, Eben Wildman from Springfield, OH, this fall texting while driving. See PSA http://vimeo.com/19307441
The campaign, the first anti-texting in central Ohio, was a multi-jurisdictional collaborative effort among the City of Dublin, Dublin City Schools and Washington Township.
Keenan and his fellow Council members say they are just at the beginning of this education/awareness effort and they welcome any other community or school district to join in to help change behavior and change lives.
For more information
Contact: Sue Burness, Public Affairs Officer | Desk: 614.410.4508 |
Cell:
614.327.1274
sburness@dublin.oh.us | Twitter: @sueburness
Download: Ordinance 08-11 | Texting and Driving PSA | Don't text and Drive Sticker