Washington Injury Law Blog

A glitch has happened in several Washington cities, which prevented them from correctly adopting the new cell phone law.  This means if you received a recent ticket for using your cell phone while driving it might be unenforceable in certain Washington cities.

When the Washington legislature passes a new law, the local city governments must add them to their local city laws.  Apparently some cities depend on the Washington Department of Licensing and its rule book, called the Model Traffic Ordinance (MTO).  The Department of Licensing is suppose to update the MTO whenever a new traffic law is adopted by the State of Washington.  Many cities adopt the MTO as an economical way to stay on top of law changes.  A recent question about the validity of the laws by Lynnwood Police led to the discovery of the problem.  In fact the MTO had not been update since 2004.

Why is this significant?  Because cities don’t have authority to enforce state laws unless they have also adopted them in their local ordinances.  Many traffic tickets, including cell phone ones, are now invalid for certain cities on traffic laws enacted since 2004.

I know, which cities??  Some of the cities that failed to adopt the new cell phone law properly may include Bremerton,  Montlake Terrace, Monroe, Ephrata, and Prosser.   There may be more, it’s best to check with the Department of Licensing if you have a question.

Which cities are OK?  Any tickets issued by the Washington State Patrol are valid.  As are all cell phone tickets from police in Seattle, Bellevue, Lynnwood, and Tacoma.

The City of Bremerton has chosen to dismiss 83 tickets its issued since June on the new cell phone law, plus any dating back to 2008 when the first part of the cell phone law was adopted.  In addition, they are refunding any fines paid for the tickets, which ranged from $124 to $176.

Happy day for some drivers!