Salt Lake County officials want employees to hang up behind the wheel.

An ordinance under review by the County Council would prohibit all county personnel from using cell phones for county-related business while driving, even if the phone and the car are personally owned.

The ban also aims to curb conversations via hands-free cell phones for any county calls made while driving and encompasses calls made off the clock.

"So even if you're in your own personal vehicle using your personal phone at 7 p.m. at night, it would be included," chief administrative officer Doug Willmore said. "The gist of it is that operating cell phones while driving equates to being a drunk driver. It lowers your reaction enough."

If passed today, the ordinance would fall under the county's standards of conduct code, which means violations could result in a warning or even an employee being fired.

The push for the policy stemmed in large part from a recent study conducted at the University of Utah, which found motorists on cell phones were 18 percent slower in braking and twice as likely to have a rear-end collision than drivers not on the phone.

A similar study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last year found about 8 percent of drivers — roughly 1.2 million — are on their cell phone while driving at any moment during the day.

"There is substantial evidence that people who drive are just not paying attention to driving and are worse drivers as a result of that," councilman Joe Hatch said. "We're just saying we're not part of that."

Mayor Peter Corroon, who initiated the push for an in-car cell phone ban, added that the county is liable for employee crashes caused by doing business on a cell phone while driving.

If the ordinance is approved, the county's risk management department will begin tracking employee accidents involving cell phones and will require all employees to sign a pledge that they will not conduct county business on the road by phone.

But councilman Mark Crockett isn't sure that will be enough to put a damper on the use of chatting while driving. Although Crockett supports the measure, he said it doesn't have enough accountability and enforcement.

"I'm not sure how practical it is to tell everyone they can't use it in their car at all," he said. "I just don't know if this is a truly workable policy to ban them entirely."

Instead, Crockett said a diluted approach that requires the use of hands-free phones while driving may work better. That policy would be easier to monitor, Crockett said, by simply installing devices in county vehicles.

Corroon admits the policy has enforcement flaws, but that he just wanted to send a message and set an example with the measure.

"We're not going to be out there with cameras in people's cars," he said. "It's not something we're planning to strictly enforce."

Councilman Randy Horiuchi said he hopes the facts alone will prompt employees to hang up their cell phones while on the road. Since hearing the University of Utah statistics about driving on the phone, Horiuchi pulls off the road if he has to make a call.

"I'm a less safe driver when I'm on the phone. Anyone who argues differently is incurably wrong," Horiuchi said. "When it's our employees and they're on our time, we ought to set the example."

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