Last updated April 12, 2019
Junior high school students have successfully made it a crime for drivers to use new or old cell phones while engaged in the operation of a motor vehicle in Wisconsin Rapids in the United States. A ban on texting while driving went into operation across the whole of the state last year. However, a group of students from Wisconsin Rapids East Junior High School made it their business to get the law expanded to include straightforward cell phone use as well, presenting a plan to the city council, which has now been approved, and will become law in four months time, in October.
“Knowing that we were able to come forth with our idea and just seeing through the whole process was really cool,” says 10th grade student Hannah Kiiskila. Fellow tenth grade student Nick Munce concurs, saying that “I’ve almost got hit a couple of times from people talking on their phone (while driving). It’s dangerous and I think something that needs to be done and it has.”
The council has now passed the ordinance with a vote of 5 – 3, although some of the council members are concerned as to where the draw the line. “Can they not drink in their car?” wonders Mary Jo Carson, the Mayor of Wisconsin Rapids. “You know, it’s a question of the civic rights of people and how far do you go to impose upon those rights.”