LAKE DALLAS — Police Chief Nick Ristagno asked the City Council to consider a new ordinance restricting the use of cellphones in school zones.

The council discussed concerns about joining the increasing number of cities restricting drivers’ phone usage during the council’s regular meeting Thursday night.

Council member Carol Ann Connors said she knew the re­quest would come eventually, and she had mixed feelings about it.

“I’m one of those for personal responsibility. I don’t like at all that we even have to look at this,” Connors said. “But it’s so irresponsible in the first place, and texting while driving is even worse. I don’t understand why people do it.”

Other North Texas cities that have banned using hand-held cell­phones in school zones in­clude Dallas, Duncanville, Flower Mound, Highland Park, Uni­ver­sity Park and Rowlett.

An off-duty Denton firefighter rescued a Plano woman earlier this month after she drove off a Lake Dallas road into Lewisville Lake while she was text-messaging on her cellphone.

Ristagno told the council that he discussed the idea with the department’s officers, particularly those who work the day shift. Officers reported that of all the speeding tickets they’d written to drivers in school zones, nearly half those drivers were on the phone when they were pulled over, he said.

Ristagno cautioned that he wasn’t saying that either he or the officers thought talking on cellphones made drivers speed. “But we think they are a substantial distraction,” he said.

Ristagno recommended that the council pass an ordinance in the summer, so that the city would have time to do a public education campaign.

If an ordinance is passed, the chief said the police department would issue warnings at first and would be willing to make the grace period as long as the City Council would like.

“We could go up to 45 or 60 days,” Ristagno said. “We always go for at least a week for speeding through school zones at the start of school every year, even though that law’s been in place for years.”

Connors remained skeptical, saying the city can’t control everything people do and she would have to think about the proposal for a while.

Ristagno agreed that he, too, doesn’t like ordinances that seem controlling, but observations by himself and his officers showed that not all people were responsible.

“If everyone was responsible, then we wouldn’t even have to make laws to reduce speeds in school zones. People wouldn’t drive 40 mph — or over — in school zones,” Ristagno said.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .