6 citations issued during first month of Pocatello’s hands-free ordinance

It’s been about a month since Pocatello police started issuing tickets to drivers violating the hands-free ordinance on March 11.

According to Lt. Eric Anderson, the department has only made 18 recorded stops during that span, with only six resulting in citations.

Anderson said the number seems low, especially since he sees people continuing to break the law.

“To me, it doesn’t seem like a lot because when I’m still driving around I still see people on their phone all over town,” he said.

But the number could be higher because the department isn’t recording all of the people they stop for the violations since many are still unaware of it.

“You know, out of 18 in a month, maybe we’re safe to say it could have been 25 or so stops, but were not documenting all of them.”

Anderson said many people from other cities are unaware of the ordinance but believes that violations will decline as other cities adopt similar laws.