Playing video games or text-messaging while driving remains a legal activity on O'ahu roads, following the City Council's inability yesterday to override a mayoral veto.

The council's failure to muster six votes needed to overturn Mayor Mufi Hannemann's veto was unexpected. That's because the council just last month voted 7-1 in favor of the bill to ban the playing of video games, and writing, sending or reading text-based communications, while driving.

The effort to override the veto failed by a 4-4 vote, with councilmen Todd Apo, Gary Okino and Nestor Garcia voting against the ban. All three previously voted for it, but yesterday they said they opposed the ban because it would be difficult to enforce.

"I am disappointed that the mayor and some of my fellow council members let politics get in the way of recognizing that this important proposal to increase safety on our city streets deserved to become law," said Councilman Charles Djou, who introduced the legislation. "You don't have to look further than today's vote to know why the average voter is disgusted with Honolulu Hale."

Separately, the council advanced a bill that would ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving. Hannemann urged the council to consider the cell-phone ban instead of Djou's bill banning text messaging and video-game playing while driving.

"This was a flawed bill designed to enable its sponsor's constant political posturing, rather than to address public safety concerns legitimately," Hannemann said in a news release. "Let's get serious about this issue and craft appropriate legislation."

Honolulu police and the prosecuting attorney said the ban on texting and video-game playing while driving would be difficult to enforce. Proponents of the bill had said they hoped the law would deter drivers even if it is difficult to enforce. They also said they hoped the law could serve as a first step toward a more effective, comprehensive ban on use of hand-held devices such as mobile phones while driving.

Djou's measure was partly a response to the September suspension of a city bus driver who was photographed playing a hand-held video game while working his route. The Honolulu prosecutor's office yesterday acknowledged that the proposed video-game playing ban likely would have been enforceable in that incident.

Studies suggest that using a cell phone or other device while driving isn't a good idea. A recent report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute said that nearly 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds before the event. Primary causes of driver inattention were distracting activities, such as cell-phone use and drowsiness.

A separate 2005 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that drivers using phones are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.

It's unclear whether a broad ban on cell phones while driving can pass the council. In 2002, it tried to ban cell-phone use while driving, and variations on that idea failed at the state Legislature in 2005 and 2007.