PCPD reminds citizens of new laws coming November 1

The Ponca City Police Department continues their partnership with the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office. Two new laws go into effect November 1, 2015. The first involves children and car seat usage, the other texting and driving.

Any child under eight years old must be properly secured in a child restraint system. The law previously applied to children under six years of age.

1. 0-2 years: must be in a rear facing seat child car seat at least until the age of two years or until the child reaches the height and weight limit for the car seat.

2. 2-4 years: must be in a car seat until at least four years of age.

3. 4-8 years: must be in a car seat or child booster seat until at least the age of eight, unless the child is taller than 4’9”.

4. 8 years or taller than 4’9”: must be in a seat belt.

Regarding texting while driving, this is not the full text of the statute, but contains a summary of the new law.

It shall be unlawful for any person to operate a motor vehicle on any street or highway within this state while using a hand held electronic communication device to manually compose, send, or read an electronic text message while the motor vehicle is in motion. By definition, “electronic text message” includes text based message, instant message, electronic message, photo, video or e-mail.

The provisions of this law shall not apply if the person is doing so in for the sole purpose of communicating with any of the following regarding an imminent emergency situation:

1. An emergency response operator;

2. A hospital, physician’s office or health clinic;

3. A provider of ambulance service;

4. A provider of firefighting services; or

5. A law enforcement agency.