Attention: Law Enforcement Officials

Please share you experiences enforcing 'No Texting and Driving'.

Great idea for a thread, Tony.

Thanks Edgar. I drive tractor trailer part-time in my retirement. On a recent 220 mile turn from Syracuse, NY to Buffalo, NY I counted six drivers and texters during my journey. Realize, I am in the cat bird seat so I can see them texting in their lap. Witnessing too many fatals, came up on two in the last month, both texting related.

I actually responded to a 4 fatality accident several years ago, where a tractor trailer driver caused an 8 vehicle pile up while texting on the interstate. Found his phone in the passenger side floor board with half a message typed out and the cursor still blinking, all while he was vehemently denying he wasn't texting. It was very sobering for me, helping the M.E. place an 8 year old female in a body bag.

As the OP stated, it is very difficult to enforce, without the officer actually observing the texting. Not very many tall sitting unmarked SUV's assigned to that type of traffic control. Most texting violations are pulled over by regular patrol units who make the stop thinking they are DUI's, until they do a field sobriety interview and realize they are in fact sober.

So when the officer questions if they were texting while driving, very, very few are honest about it. If they deny it, the officer would have to be able to prove it in traffic court. In this instance, all we can really do is write them for the infraction itself, e.g. 'two wheels left of center', 'inattentive driving' 'wreckless' and that sort of thing. Which in my experience, doesn't deter them to actually think about driving while texting.

Texting is at epidemic levels. Most think they are invincible and that they are the 'only ones' who are capable of texting and driving. Also, the actual term 'texting and driving' is misunderstood. For instance, a person actually doubles the risk of having an accident reading a text while driving than actually texting. Not that texting isn't dangerous, but reading one is more dangerous because it actually distracts them for a longer time, creating much more distance traveled without looking back at the road.

Drivers will tell me often, "I wasn't texting, I was ONLY reading a text!"

OkieStubble said:

I actually responded to a 4 fatality accident several years ago, where a tractor trailer driver caused an 8 vehicle pile up while texting on the interstate. Found his phone in the passenger side floor board with half a message typed out and the cursor still blinking, all while he was vehemently denying he wasn't texting. It was very sobering for me, helping the M.E. place an 8 year old female in a body bag.

As the OP stated, it is very difficult to enforce, without the officer actually observing the texting. Not very many tall sitting unmarked SUV's assigned to that type of traffic control. Most texting violations are pulled over by regular patrol units who make the stop thinking they are DUI's, until they do a field sobriety test and realize they are in fact sober.

So when the officer questions if they were texting while driving, very, very few are honest about it. If they deny it, the officer would have to be able to prove it in traffic court. In this instance, all we can really do is right them for the infraction itself, e.g. 'two wheels left of center', 'inattentive driving' 'wreckless' and that sort of thing. Which in my experience, doesn't deter them to actually think about driving while texting.

Texting is at epidemic levels. Most think they are invincible and that they are the 'only ones' who are capable of texting and driving. Also, the actual term 'texting and driving' is misunderstood. For instance, a person actually doubles the risk of having an accident reading a text while driving than actually texting. Not that texting isn't dangerous, but reading one is more dangerous.

Drivers well tell me often, "I wasn't texting, I was ONLY reading a text!"

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Thanks Rob.

It is getting dangerous out there.

Three years ago, returning home from the college night class I was teaching, I exited the freeway, was at the bottom of the ramp waiting for traffic to pass, when a teenage girl hit the backend of my Honda CRV at about 50 miles per hour. Her car was totaled, mine had $6,000 damage and frame damage. There was no doubt in my mind that the gal was texting her boyfriend. By the way, I couldn't move my right arm for a month, and needed physical therapy. The police did indeed give her a ticket but couldn't prove she was texting.

By the way, I teach days at a college in Philadelphia and nights at a college in the suburbs. It's frightening watching people weave into other lanes, all while texting. Really frightening.

That's the question you have to ask yourself if you see a car weaving in a travel lane. Is the driver intoxicated, drug induced or texting? In some cases all of the above. It is scary out there at times.

We do the best we can. I have heard rumors from the LE side that new technology is in the creation stage, where phones will be able to acknowledge being above certain speeds of travel. Which will not allow texting or the reading of.

This is just grapevine mind you, and if/when it comes to fruition, I can see the ACLU lawsuits for the 'passengers texting rights' stacking up.

I believe statistics will drive the inertia of 'crackdown', similar to the enforcement evolution regarding drunk driving. It probably won't be long, as most stats point to texting and driving reaching the top cause of traffic fatalities. The lawmakers will be forced to appropriate more training, manpower, and resources to patrolman. Of course, this requires commitment and money.

How are police officers supposed to enforce texting and driving laws?

I work in Law Enforcement as dispatch. Talking to officers not one officer has ever written a ticket for it. Cant prove it unless they admit to it(if its a crash due to texting and someone is injured that a different story). Plus its not illegal to dial the phone, check email, change spotify song on your phone etc.

The officers just told me they write them a ticket for inattentive driving and are done with it. The law was really made to just deter the public from texting...but its hard to enforce(at least in my state).

I have said for 40 years that I want a car as smart as a mule. In the little hick redneck neighborhood where I grew up there was a legendary story about a fellow who would frequently imbibe too much at a local hangout. The other guys would simply pile him into his cart passed out, point his mule at the dirt road, and slap her rump. The mule would go home, cart in tow along with the passenger.

Cars don't have accidents. Drivers have accidents. In 50 years the concept that you'll physically drive the car yourself will be horrifying, cars will all talk to each other and the surrounding infrastructure, and "accidents" will be so infrequent the LEOs will have to get out the manual to see what to do.

The problem is getting us beyond the idea of who is legally responsible during the transition period.

If I could buy a "Google car" right now I would be shopping for one tomorrow.

blary54 said:

I work in Law Enforcement as dispatch. Talking to officers not one officer has ever written a ticket for it. Cant prove it unless they admit to it(if its a crash due to texting and someone is injured that a different story). Plus its not illegal to dial the phone, check email, change spotify song on your phone etc.

The officers just told me they write them a ticket for inattentive driving and are done with it. The law was really made to just deter the public from texting...but its hard to enforce(at least in my state).

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I figure in Madison they would have a no 'biking and texting' law also.

I don't even like talking on the phone using a handsfree headset and driving. I've tried texting and driving twice and I don't know how people do it, legally or illegally. I was all over the road when I did it.

mrb7 said:

I have said for 40 years that I want a car as smart as a mule. In the little hick redneck neighborhood where I grew up there was a legendary story about a fellow who would frequently imbibe too much at a local hangout. The other guys would simply pile him into his cart passed out, point his mule at the dirt road, and slap her rump. The mule would go home, cart in tow along with the passenger.

Cars don't have accidents. Drivers have accidents. In 50 years the concept that you'll physically drive the car yourself will be horrifying, cars will all talk to each other and the surrounding infrastructure, and "accidents" will be so infrequent the LEOs will have to get out the manual to see what to do.

The problem is getting us beyond the idea of who is legally responsible during the transition period.

If I could buy a "Google car" right now I would be shopping for one tomorrow.

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Years ago when I acquired my first cell phone I thought I could talk & drive at the same time. Wrong! One night on the way to work the person I was relieving called me with a problem she was experiencing. After a brief 2 minute conversation I suddenly realized that I was almost totally focusing on the cell phone conversation and not my driving. And the fact that I almost hit the car in front of me as well as I become too involved in the cell phone conversation. It was at this point I stopped "talking & driving" to avoid causing an accident. Now when I drive my cell phone stays turned on but I don't answer it, speaker phone or not! When you're traveling at 65mph+ that is no time to lose your focus to your driving. Never again!

Some of these stories are truly dreadful. I have had many close calls with other drivers that were looking down into those bright cell phone screens. They simply gotta make it illegal to try to save lives.

I think the penalty for being caught texting & driving should be two weeks on a moped for transportation. That, or taser the phone.

There is absolutely nothing to text or talk about that can not wait until you are at your destination. Nothing. Since I've gotten my drivers license back I'm a completely changed driver. I used to text and drive and talk and drive all the time and speed doing so.

Nothing is is worth taking that chance. I was late for work today and caught myself speeding. I slowed down and thought why am I speeding...I'm just going to work. And to top it off my job is 1.5 miles away. How much time would I actually save? One minute? What a dolt.

I remember the commercials that used to air. They would show home video of a birthday or wedding and then at the end a parent of the kid in the video that died in a car crash due to texting and driving. They would also show the text right before the crash. It would be an emoticon, or a "OK".

brucealmighty said:

They simply gotta make it illegal to try to save lives.

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This is a misconception. Making something illegal doesn't make it go away. It merely gives society a framework to prosecute those who violate the social norm that the law is based on.

Murder is illegal, and prisons are stuffed with murderers. Rape is illegal, and the same story is there. But people are in prison for murder because it is illegal, and that provides a framework for prosecution. People are in prison for rape because it is illegal, and that provides a framework for prosecution.

To make the behavior go away we have to change the societal norms that coerce our aggregate behaviors. We need to make texting while driving unpopular. Obviously laws against it and big fines is a good start, but in the end they'll be inadequate to complete the job. We have to change the underlying fundamental gestalt about texting while driving. Conversations like this help. Bumper Stickers like "Hang up and drive" help. Public service awareness campaigns help.

It takes all of these and more. But I'm still holding out for the Google car.