Friday March 26 BROOKLYN, Ohio
(Reuters) - The Cleveland suburb that pioneered seat belt laws
more than 30 years ago has found a new way to force safer driving
-- make motorists using cellular phones keep both hands on the
steering wheel.
Brooklyn Police Chief James Maloney
said Thursday his officers have issued two warnings since City
Council passed a first-of-its-kind ordinance requiring drivers
talking on their cellular phones to keep both hands on the wheel.
The misdemeanor offense could
result in a fine of $100, although some leeway was granted for |
emergency calls, Maloney said.
Motorists would normally have to violate more than the cellular
phone law to get stopped, he added.
The cellular phone ordinance
was the idea of Mayor John Coyne, who was also the force behind
Brooklyn's groundbreaking seat belt law in 1966.
"People using cellular phones
has definitely reached epidemic proportions, so if there's anything
we can do to keep their minds on their driving, that's a good
thing,'' Maloney said.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. |