Friday, September 30, 2011

Havre Cell Phone Ban Now in Effect

Well the big cell phone ban goes into effect tomorrow, October 1st. The Havre City council voted on a 5-3 vote back on June 6 to make the use of a cell phone while driving a primary offence. Council people Trethewey, Veis and Brekke voted against implementation of the ordinance. City Police, Firemen and certain city employees were given an exemption and can continue to dial, yak, text or fiddle with their phones without worry and the people driving around with dogs in their laps or applying makeup on their way to work are also still ok.

City officials said back on June 6th that they would be erecting signs alerting motorists and especially out of town visitors that we have a cell phone ban in place. Now that October 1st has rolled around and the ban is in effect it seems nobody bothered to order the signs in a timely manner so no signs have been erected. Four months lead time and they can’t even get that right. Good thing we have all that “administration” down at city hall but doing what we may never know.

Beware of a “Sting” operation in the near future to get us acclimated to this change.  I am going to Radio shack in the morning to see about a hands free device.

8 comments:

  1. Of course they didn't order the signs yet. That would make too much sense. I found it interesting when I heard on the radio this morning they are still waiting for approval from the Montana Department of Transportation regarding to the hwy. So does that mean if they don't approve it certain places you can and certain places you can't? Won't you try to get it approved like right after the council passed it??

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  2. Telling us they are waiting for approval is just a snow job so we forget that they need no approval for the signs inside city limits

    Why aren't those erected yet?

    OH YEA

    Nobody ordered them in time even though they have had 4 months to get their poop in a group

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  3. Can the city order their signs from the same place Dritcholus ordered his from?

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  4. Dont tell me they ordered the signs from out of town.

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  5. Good point Fitty. The sign Dritsholas had made was painted and lettered and erected in less than a week from the dirty towel incident.

    They only collect taxes here local axslinger - they wouldn't want to make any local purchases other than the water for the office cooler

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  6. What would the cops do if they pulled you over and you hid your phone under the seat, what would they do if everybody refused to give their consent to search?Under the 4th ammendment you have the right to refuse.

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  7. You are correct FedUp you would have the right to refuse the search; however since the Council made this a primary stop, if officers see a phone in use it may be enough probably cause to warrant a search. If you are found to be hiding the phone it might lead to more charges. This is a slippery slope. It is not smart to text and drive or even talk and drive at times, but it is a choice. Bottom line, repeal!

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  8. They could not charge you with any thing else because it is your constitutional right.and lets just say you don't have a phone at all and they thought they seen you with one.I wouln't let them search and if they searched anyway and never found a phone they would have some explaining to do.I don't like people texting or talking while they are driving but i don't think they should put it in a different category than eating,having their pets on their laps,or messing with the GPS its all careless driving and if you get in an accident thats what you will be charged with.Another thing is they say emergency personal and certain city officials are exempt,I wonder if they are exempt from drinking a can of beer while driving,they are both dangerous.

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