City council will consider banning texting while driving.

Youngstown City Council will consider legislation next week to ban texting while driving.

At today’s council safety committee meeting, Chairwoman Annie Gillam, D-1st, said texting while driving is a “big problem.”

The language of the proposed ban will be written by the city’s law department and be ready by council’s next meeting, Oct. 20, for a potential vote, she said.

The city will follow the lead of other communities that already have texting bans in writing the law, Gillam said.

A ban on texting while driving took effect Oct. 1 in Canfield. A first offense there is a $100 fine, a second is $250 and anything after that is up to $500 per violation.

For the complete story, read Thursday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com