(A) It shall be unlawful for any person to operate a motor vehicle on any street or highway while using a hand-held electronic communication device to manually compose, send, or read an electronic text message while the motor vehicle is in motion.
(B) The Department of Public Safety shall not record or assess points for violations of this section on any license holder’s traffic record maintained by the Department.
(C) The provisions of division (A) above shall not apply if the person is using the cellular telephone or electronic communication device for the sole purpose of communicating with any of the following regarding an imminent emergency situation:
(1) An emergency response operator;
(2) A hospital, physician’s office, or health clinic;
(3) A provider of ambulance services;
(4) A provider of firefighting services; or
(5) A law enforcement agency.
(D) For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
CELLULAR TELEPHONE. An analog or digital wireless telephone authorized by the Federal Communications Commission to operate in the frequency bandwidth reserved for cellular telephones.
COMPOSE, SEND, or READ. With respect to a text message means the manual entry, sending, or retrieval of a text message to communicate with any person or device.
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION DEVICE. An electronic device that permits the user to manually transmit a communication of written text by means other than through an oral transfer or wire communication. This term does not include a device that is physically or electronically integrated into a motor vehicle or a voice-operated global positioning or navigation system that is affixed to a motor vehicle, or a hands-free device that allows the user to write, send, or read a text message without the use of either hand except to activate, deactivate, or initiate a feature or function.
TEXT MESSAGE. A text-based message, instant message, electronic message, photo, video, or electronic mail.
(Prior Code, § 15-556) (Ord. 16-02, passed 11-9-2015, effective 11-12-2015) Penalty, see § 71.999