HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — The Huntsville City Council gathered Thursday evening for its second meeting of the new year and city leaders addressed the new hands-free driving ordinance that went into effect at the beginning of the year.
Council members decided to vote in favor of changing how the ordinance is understood to clarify some of its existing language.
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The rewriting of the wording in the ordinance is aimed at providing a better understanding of what police officers can and cannot do when pulling someone over for a violation of the hands-free driving law.
The amended version of the ordinance means that a violation of the law itself cannot serve as probable cause for other potential violations that may have occurred.
City leaders in Huntsville wanted to ensure the public understands that a traffic stop itself could not be a way to enforce the possible violation of another state or local law.
However, in the event that a driver is pulled over for having a phone in their hand and an officer sees what appears to be drug paraphernalia during a traffic stop, that could then serve as probable cause to check for other possible violations.