After much debate and a bit of delay The Sioux Falls City Council is expected to vote on a distracted driving ordinance Tuesday night.
If the proposed ordinance passes, those driving within Sioux Falls would have about 20 days to put electronics down in the car or risk a fine. It's a proposal many are on board with.
While it's something we see every day, many people we spoke with believe texting while driving should be banned in Sioux Falls.
"I think they should because it causes a lot of accidents, like you see people swerving; like I almost got hit the other day because someone was too busy texting on the interstate going 65 not even looking at the road just swerving in and out," Samantha Ferguson said.
"I think it's especially dangerous to people on bikes pedestrians and motorcyclists. And I think it should be ban," Marc Hopewell said.
While the Sioux Falls City Council was originally set to vote two weeks ago, they postponed it until all councilors could be present.
The proposed ordinance goes deeper than just texting and driving though, it also includes using MP3 players, GPS devices, PDA'S, cell phones and even voice-to-text technology.
"It would also be good for the cell phone companies to show a bit more responsibility and the technology is out there so that the phone could tell if somebody was driving and pretty much turn itself off," Benjamin Rucker said.
But if you get caught, you would face a fine starting at $250. But many seem to think proving you were texting will be the difficult part.
"I think it would be hard to enforce because a lot of people keep their phones down here and how would you tell what they are doing," Larissa Rucker said.
"I think you can enforce it from the fact that if there is an accident then they can go back in the records and see that you received a text or sent one recently or were in the process of doing it, it might be a little difficult to prove but I think it's possible," Hopewell said.
The city council is set to vote on the proposed ordinance Tuesday night. To read the full ordinance, visit the Sioux Falls City Council's website.
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