“Yeah, keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel.”

So sang The Doors in their song “Roadhouse Blues,” and more importantly for Las Cruces residents and visitors, so voted the Las Cruces City Council last December.

Effective February 5, Ordinance #2548 prohibits certain activities with hand-held cell phones while driving within the city limits.

Specifically, under the new ordinance drivers are not allowed to:

• “read, select or enter a telephone number or name in a mobile telephone for the purpose of making or receiving a call” or
• “engage in a call or create, send or read text messages and/or electronic mail.”

The ordinance makes exceptions for the use of hands-free features or functions which allow the phone to be used without holding it, even if a person has to hold the phone to activate the hands-free feature or function. LCMC 1997 Sec. 27-12-6-12.18(F)(1)(c).

Also excluded are calls made to certain entities regarding an emergency, calls made by first responders during or in response to an emergency, and using a hand-held cell phone while the vehicle is not in motion. LCMC 1997 Sec. 27-12-6-12.18(F)(3) and (F)(1)(g).

Additionally, the City Council created a rebuttable presumption that a driver who holds a cell phone “to, or in the immediate proximity of, his or her ear” is violating the ordinance. LCMC 1997 Sec. 27-12-6-12.18(F)(2).

Las Crucens may be interested to know that the Municipal Code also prohibits:

• driving with a person or animal in the driver’s lap (Sec. 27-12-6-12.18(B)), and
• driving with the driver’s arm around another person (Sec. 27-12-6-12.18(D)).

Click the link to see the full text of the ordinance: Ordinance #2548 – Cell phone ban.

NB: this disclaimer applies.