City Council: Don't drive and dial

Drivers who have ignored their teachers' instructions to keep both hands on the wheel soon may have someone else tell them to put their hands at 2 o'clock and 10 o'clock: the Beaufort Police Department.

Mayor George O'Kelley proposed at Tuesday's City Council workshop that Beaufort ban the use of handheld cell phones for talking or text messaging while driving, and the idea received unanimous support from the council.

"I've come close a couple of times to being hit by people driving with their knees and punching stuff on their cell phone," he said. "I think it's a serious situation, and it would be real interesting to know how many accidents this causes."

O'Kelley recognized that it would be difficult to enforce a ban on handheld cell phone use and said drivers might only be charged if they were involved in an accident or were pulled over for a different traffic offense.

Instead of passing a city ordinance against handheld cell phone use while driving, Councilman Mike Sutton suggested that the council write to the legislature to endorse a statewide ban, but other council members were concerned it would take the legislature too long to act.

The council did not vote on the proposal Tuesday but is expected to soon. After passing the ordinance, the council likely would endorse a statewide ban as well.

Eliminating cell phone conversations could make the waits at red lights seem even longer, and the city has had no shortage of complaints about excessive delays since the J.E. McTeer Bridge was damaged in a barge accident in April 2007. The S.C. Department of Transportation will turn over control of the lights to the Beaufort public works department soon, and the city is planning to set up a Web page for drivers to lodge complaints.

Separately, the council said Tuesday that it will seek input from representatives of Beaufort County and Port Royal before moving ahead with a proposed ordinance to limit "big box" retailers — those with footprints of 70,000 square feet or more — to S.C. 170 and S.C. 280. The council, which preliminarily approved the ordinance in June, said the ordinance would impact traffic in those jurisdictions as well .

The council members also said Tuesday that they do not support charging restaurants a large fee for a license to serve diners on state-owned sidewalks.

An initial proposal to allow sidewalk dining had called for an application fee of about $50, a refundable $500 deposit and an annual rental fee of $9 per square foot. A revised proposal is expected to require a total amount of $100 to $200, which would be non-refundable.