A proposed ordinance prohibiting drivers from text messaging in LaGrange raised concerns from a handful of residents who turned out for a public hearing Tuesday.

Mayor Jeff Lukken along with Public Safety Director Lou Dekmar drafted the ordinance based on the increased use of cell phones while driving and 2,600 traffic fatalities nationally reported in 2005 due to texting.

“It would apply to everybody, teenagers and adults alike,” Lukken said.

Troup Street resident Nathan Gaskin felt the ordinance would infringe on residents’ rights because of profiling and the Fourth Amendment, which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Gaskin, one of two people who spoke at the hearing, called the proposed ordinance “an excellent idea … but as a matter of practicality I think it is virtually impossible to enforce without a broad range of discretion that might lend itself to (profiling through racial, gender or age-based reasoning).”

The proposed ordinance says anyone holding a cell phone in a way that’s consistent with reading, sending or creating texts will be presumed to be in the process of texting. A driver who is pulled over can then give an officer the phone and show he wasn’t texting.

Gaskin said that is an infringement of American rights.

“That’s a violation of someone’s Fourth Amendment, and I don’t think it’s right for someone to forfeit their Fourth Amendment just to get out of paying a fine or to keep from going to court,” he said.

Lukken based some of his facts on a recent study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute that says a driver is 1.3 times more likely to crash or come near to crashing while talking on a cell phone, 2.8 times more likely if he is dialing a number and 23.2 times more likely if texting.

“Young people, a lot of them, can text better than some adults, and we adults have to look down,” Lukken said. “That doesn’t diminish the fact that the studies show that they’re 23 times more dangerous and likely to have a wreck than those undistracted.

“Part of the reasoning of this ordinance is to send a message to everybody that this is illegal in the city of LaGrange.”

City Council had its first reading of the ordinance Tuesday.

In another matter, council heard the concerns of some Polk and Lindsey Street residents about speeding in the area, due in large part to the recent deaths of Brian Carroll, 35, and Lashaun Burks, 22, in a motorcycle-bicycle collision Aug. 28.

“We complained to 911 about excessive speeding by automobiles and motorcycles traveling along Polk Street,” said Polk Street resident Cecelia Adams. “The community is filled with children of all ages who play and ride bicycles and adults who walk around the community for exercise. They are put at risk by reckless drivers.”

Adams approached council with a petition signed by 207 residents asking for speed bumps at the north end, south end and top of the hill of Polk Street, as well as proper street lighting and signage displaying “children at play” and the speed limit, which they want dropped from 30 mph to 25.

“The situation is that we lost two lives because of the absence of safety devices to deter the temptation of speed,” she said.

Although council would have to approve ordinances for changes to be made, it approved a motion proposed by Dekmar for a traffic study to be completed of the area.

“Already, (Dekmar) and our city manager (Tom Hall) were looking at what we needed to do to take care of the situation,” Lukken said.

Even after two deaths, Adams said drivers still speed excessively on Polk Street because of how straight and lengthy it is, similar to a drag strip.

“I still think we need someone to come through and control down there because Polk Street, it is a long street, and they use it for motorcycles and fast driving,” said Joann Talley, grandmother of Burks. “We really need someone to control it.”

Trey Wood can be reached at twood@lagrangenews. com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 228.