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HAMILTON- It's not going to happen immediately, but the Hamilton City Council is already showing support for some level of a cell phone ban for drivers inside the city limits.

Half-a-dozen Montana cities have already enacted various flavors of cell phone restrictions, from Missoula's texting-only law to the complete bans recently approved by Whitefish and Bozeman.

The Hamilton City Council has talked about the idea before but at a committee work session on Tuesday night, the idea was once more raised.

Hamilton Police Chief Ryan Oster told council members the city hasn't seen a "rash of accidents" because of cell phone use behind the wheel.

But he said the latest national statistics suggest 18% of the "distracted driving" fatality accidents nationwide two-years ago did involve cell phones to some extent. And while he said enforcement could be problematic, Oster promised police would work with whatever law the council backed.

Councilman Al Mitchell believes Hamilton should go ahead and develop a ban, even if the city is only seeing "near misses"...

"And it sounds like there's a federal government push that's going to actually come down the pike anyway. So why not be progressive and instead of kicking and screaming and being Montanans about our individual rights... there is no right to own a cell phone and talk on it while you're driving as far as I know," Hamilton City Councilman Al Mitchell said.

Mitchell's fellow council members generally agreed with his stance, although some weren't sure how rules could be drafted that would cover today's advanced phones with their multiplicity of features.

The council took no immediate action, but asked staff to do more research.