The city of Shawnee is looking to amend its municipal code to crack down on distracted driving caused by people watching videos on their phones.

On Monday, the Shawnee Council Committee discussed amending city code to include language that explicitly addresses drivers watching videos and livestreams behind the wheel. Current city code only outlaws sending written communications, like texting and emails, while driving.

The amendment would cover a broader grouping of distracted driving behaviors, including using the internet or other social media platforms like Facebook and watching videos on apps like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.

“Without being able to hold distracted drivers accountable for this behavior, the roads will only grow more dangerous as drivers continue to use their cell phones while driving, and if unchecked, that behavior will only grow more common over time,” Shawnee city documents stated.

The amendment will be taken up formally at the Shawnee City Council meeting on Oct. 26.

Cases of distracted driving that couldn’t be prosecuted

The amendment comes at the suggestion of the Shawnee Municipal Prosecutor’s Office, Shawnee City Attorney Jenny Smith said.

“It’s rare that I have a request from our prosecutor’s office asking to change one of our ordinances. They’ve come to me now to say that this ordinance that we have, which mirrors the state statute, just does not work for our community anymore,” Smith said. 

In the past, the Shawnee Police Department and Prosecutor’s Office encountered distracted driving cases where they could not issue a citation or had their case thrown out because it was not covered by the city’s code, Smith said.

She noted cases where a newspaper delivery driver was watching Netflix, a dump truck driver who was scrolling TikTok, another driver who was using Facebook to watch videos and other individuals who were shopping on the internet while driving. 

“Within all of those, our officers either felt like there was no written communication, or a judge said that we didn’t meet the burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt that it violated this ordinance,” Smith said. 

Councilmembers say there are “gray areas”

While the amendment listed a number of targeted distracted driving offenses, Shawnee councilmembers on Monday had questions on how far the rules could be extended.

Councilmember Laurel Burchfield said there are nuances to some of the apps they’re targeting that include audio-only options.

“All of these apps have multiple ways to use them. So I’m thinking about a Zoom call that is primarily intended for video, but there’s the option to have the video off. So how do we deal with those kinds of nuanced situations?” she said. 

Councilmember Eric Persson agreed that there are gray areas. He said he knows people who listen to audio from YouTube TV while driving to get their news, while there are others who get distracted by organizing or changing songs on Spotify.

“There are people that use audio (from YouTube) that don’t look at it; they’re just listening to a news segment, or they’re using Spotify and constantly looking at it and changing songs. So there’s some gray area there,” he said.

While the city recognizes that apps have multiple uses, the amendment would allow audio-only apps like those that broadcast podcasts, audiobooks and music but would look to restrict those that stream video, Smith said.

“I understand that there are innocent reasons for someone to be listening to something on YouTube in their car, but there are also not innocent reasons for people to be on YouTube. So that’s why we want to limit it specifically to audio-only applications,” she said. 

Considering all the hypotheticals of distracted driving, Councilmember Kurt Knappen thought that the city’s suggested amendment was fair.

“There’s so many different scenarios, and everything’s evolving. And my inclination would not be to over-regulate, although we need to do what makes sense. So I think what you propose strikes a really good balance,” he said. 

The City Council will take up amendment later this month

When asked by Burchfield if other Johnson County municipalities have addressed this, Smith said she wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know of any other communities who are more strict (about phone use while driving). The [state’s] standard traffic code is what a lot of communities adopt, and it continues to say written communication (while driving is illegal). So nobody that I’m aware of (is doing this), but this is something that our officers really are desiring,” Smith said. 

While Burchfield wanted to see what other municipalities are doing before she would give it her support, the rest of the council committee expressed their support in taking it up at the next full council meeting.

“I’m okay with moving forward, understanding that it could then be amended again later when necessary. But if this is something that the police and the prosecutors really feel would be helpful, I would rather get it going at least in this form,” Councilmember Jeanie Murphy said. 

The Shawnee City Council will next meet at 7 p.m. on Oct. 26 at Shawnee City Hall.