Using electronic devices like cell phones, computers or GPS units while driving may soon be illegal in Ann Arbor.

The Ann Arbor City Council will vote on a resolution on Monday banning the use of handheld electronic devices while operating a car or bicycle on Ann Arbor's streets. City Council voted to consider the ban at their meeting last week.

Councilmember Stephen Rapundalo (D–Ward 2), who proposed the ordinance, told councilmembers at the meeting that driving while using an electronic device is “a major public safety concern.”

“I think we’ve all experienced at one time or another, while driving, seeing somebody else who wasn’t paying attention because of their distraction with cell phone use and caused either near accidents or accidents,” he said.

The ordinance specifically bans the use of a handheld electronic device to “talk or listen to another person,” send or receive texts or verbal messages, use the internet or view an electronic map.

Driving or biking while using a cell phone would be a primary offense, meaning a violator could be pulled over for that reason alone. Anyone found in violation of the ordinance would be subject to a $125 fine or a $300 fine if the driver caused an accident.

Exemptions from the ordinance include using a hands-free device or using the device to talk to police, fire or medical personnel during an emergency. Police officers and firefighters are also exempt.

At the meeting, Rapundalo said there is a large body of research suggesting that using electronics behind the wheel is dangerous.

Rapundalo said the reason behind excluding hands-free devices from the proposed ordinance is because it would be difficult to enforce, not because those devices are any less dangerous.

“There certainly are studies that clearly show that there is no difference with handheld and the level of distraction and that of hands-free, so they’re pretty equivalent there,” he said. “But it’s a matter of, can you enforce one or both?”

A 2006 study by the University of Utah found that talking on a cell phone — even with a hands-free device — is just as dangerous as driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent, the legal limit in Michigan.

Another study done in 2005 by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that talking on a cell phone made a driver four times more likely to get into an accident.

At the meeting, some councilmembers called into question the provision prohibiting the use of GPS devices. Repaundalo defended the provision by explaining that many cell phones have GPS capabilities.

“I think this simply identifies the fact that it’s as much a distraction as use of a cell phone,” he said.

Councilmember Tony Derezinski (D–Ward 2) said he’s hopeful that the ordinance might serve as a model for a future statewide ban.

“Sometimes the local communities are the laboratories for laws the state usually adopts, sometimes long after,” he said.

Seven states have laws banning talking on a cell phone while driving and 21 states and the District of Columbia ban texting while driving.

President Barack Obama issued an executive order last October banning federal employees from using a cell phone while driving on official business. This was part of a larger campaign by the United States Department of Transportation to curb distracted driving, according to distracted.gov.

Legislation banning texting while driving has passed both houses of the Michigan Legislature, but hasn’t yet been signed into law by Democratic Gov.