Orting officials approved an inattentive driving ordinance last week that prohibits people from multitasking while driving or otherwise failing to attend to the road.

But don’t expect “inattentive driving” to show up on a ticket you receive while cruising through the East Pierce County community.

Police aren’t able to issue tickets under the new ordinance, Orting City Administrator Mark Bethune said.

Instead, Orting’s city prosecutor can amend a more serious driving offense, such as negligent driving, to inattentive driving during court negotiations.

That benefits citizens because this isn’t an offense that will go on their state driving record, Bethune said.

Should the city prosecutor review a driver’s record and conclude the person deserves a break, the prosecutor can file a charge of inattentive driving and help the person keep a clean record.

“The only purpose of all of this is it gives the prosecutor the tool to basically plea bargain negligent driving down to the lesser offense,” Orting City Councilman Joachim Pestinger said.

The Orting City Council approved the ordinance unanimously Wednesday. The law will go into effect May 25.

Unlike city officials thought initially – and was reflected in a May 11 article in The News Tribune – the ordinance won’t affect how much ticket revenue stays in the city.

Bethune said the city received false information that implementing a local inattentive driving ordinance would let the city keep all of the money from the resulting citations.

Typically, a portion of all local ticket revenues goes toward the state.

That won’t change with the inattentive driving ordinance, Bethune said Friday.

Why the confusion?

“We keep learning about this,” Bethune said simply.

Other cities in Pierce County also have ordinances against inattentive driving. They include Puyallup and Lakewood.

The fee attached to Orting’s law has yet to be determined, Bethune said. The city’s municipal judge will determine the penalty at a later date, he said.