In Covington, sitting idly at a green light because you’re changing the radio station could get you honked at.

Now, thanks to a recently passed ordinance, it could cost you $250 for inattentive driving.

At its Oct. 25 meeting, the City Council passed an Inattentive Driving Ordinance. The new ordinance, according to Covington Police Chief Kevin Klason, is intended to provide police with greater flexibility when issuing tickets to drivers.

“It’s kind of a gap filler,” he said. “It will be one more tool the officers will have that will educate and correct bad driving behavior.”

Klason explained that previous to the new ordinance officers were only able to issue infractions for negligent driving. This, he said, left a middle ground unfilled for drivers who deserve more than an infraction, but not negligent driving, which carries a $550 penalty.

“If a motorist is driving down the road and he strays into somebody else’s lane, that’s an infraction,” he said. “But on the other hand if it’s because he’s lighting a cigarette and he nearly causes an accident, which is worse?”

This new ordinance, he said, will solve that problem.

“(Inattentive driving) rises to that conscious level of stupid driving,” Klason said. “But, it doesn’t quite rise to the level of negligence, which is a serious violation. It’s still an infraction, but still a hefty penalty that’s not set by the state legislature.”

The new ordinance can also be combined with other traffic laws. For example, if someone is talking on his cell phone while driving, and he are pulled over for inattentive driving, he can be issued tickets for violating both laws.

According to the City Council’s Oct. 25 agenda packet, other examples of inattentive driving include when “a driver nearly rear-ends another vehicle; remains at a traffic light after it has changed to green due to some other preoccupation or ancillary activity in the vehicle; or any other action or inaction that places adjacent drivers and property at risk of injury or damage.”

Klason said he wrote the ordinance after reviewing other similar ordinances on the books in cities such as Kenmore, Renton, Bellevue and Federal Way. He and City Manager Derek Matheson then recommended it to the City Council.

“What I did was I looked at half a dozen and used a lot of the language and melded one which I felt applied for us and the city attorney,” Klason said.

Inattentive Driving Ordinance

10.50.010 Inattentive Driving

It shall be unlawful to drive a motor vehicle on any street, alley, or way open to the public of the City in an inattentive manner. Inattentive manner means the operation of a motor vehicle in a manner which, without regard to speed, evidences a lack of

• 1) that degree of attentiveness required to safely operate the vehicle under the prevailing conditions, Chapter 10.50 of the Covington Municipal Code: including, but not limited to, the nature and condition of the roadway, presence of pedestrians, or the presence of other traffic; or
• 2) that degree of attentiveness as will allow the driver of a motor vehicle to observe anything resting on or traveling on the roadway in time to take appropriate action as circumstances require. The offense of operating a vehicle in an inattentive manner shall be a lesser offense than, but included in, the offense of operating a vehicle in a negligent manner under RCW 46.61.525, and any person charged pursuant to RCW 46.61.525 may be found to have committed the lesser offense of operating a vehicle in an inattentive manner.

10.50.020 Violation

Violation of this section shall constitute a civil infraction subject to a monetary penalty of $250.00, not including statutory costs and assessments.