HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The City of Huntsville started implementing a new Hands Free Ordinance on July 1st, 2024. Since, Huntsville Police Department issued around 40 warnings and just under 100 citations for the new road rule. The new ordinance means you cannot drive with a phone in your hand.
"We don't want to just be stopping people and them not have a clue," said Charles Nix, who works in the H.P.D. Traffic Services and Traffic Homicide units, "If we can educate the public to make everybody safer, that's our goal in the long run."
The main focus on a meeting held Tuesday night by the Citizens Advisory Council is to educate people about the new ordinance implemented. "It takes away a lot of the guessing," said Council Chair Wiley Day Jr., "It takes away a lot of the assumptions, when you have the actual source here to be able to give you the information and the radiant information that you need."
H.P.D. says there are few exceptions to the ordinance for people to use a phone while driving. However, Nix said, "If I see, am able to see you're driving down the road with your phone in your hand or up to your ear, then yes, that is the time where the stop will be initiated."
It's important for people to understand this is just implemented in Huntsville and not in the neighboring city. "It's important for people who matriculate through Huntsville and Madison to understand what our city ordinance is," said Day.
Educating the people on the new rules also meant people know more about what not to do when driving on the roads. "With the growth of Huntsville we've had a large influx of more traffic. So with that, I do believe it has increased the amount of distracted driving. So, it's one of those just to try and prevent more crashes in the city," said Nix.
"One of the reasons we want to give the information out is so that we don't have to stop people that may be in a hurry trying to get to work or something for something they may not know is going on," said Nix.
Police officials say it's too early, and could take years, to see the the impact on how the new rule is effecting traffic.