City drops plan to ban cell phones for drivers.

Byline: Kat Hughes

Oct. 28--Fourth Ward Councilman Jerry Wade knows from personal experience the distraction of talking on a phone while driving. If you call him on his cell phone when he's in the car, his response is predictable: "Let me call you back."

So when he asked for a report on the possibility of prohibiting cell phone use while driving, he said his reasoning was pretty simple. "I see cell phones as a potential distraction for drivers, and any distraction while driving is dangerous," Wade said.

Although Columbia Police Chief Randy Boehm might agree with Wade's logic, Boehm's report on the issue, which he presented at the Oct. 15 Columbia …