Surprise! Police Can Tell When You’re Texting
Decatur Metro | July 1, 2010Put down the smartphone and pick up your license and registration please.
Georgia’s texting-while-driving ban goes into effect today, which means that police officers can now pull over multi-tasking drivers and slap them with a $150 fine and 1 point on their license.
“But how will they know I’m texting and not reading ancient parchment scrolls?!”, you ask distractedly, glancing down at your Blackberry.
Well, basically it starts by observing that your vehicle looks like it’s being driven by a couple capuchin monkeys, that’s how. From NPR…
Sgt. Robert Moody of the Georgia State Patrol says it’s easier than you might think to figure out whether someone is typing a message behind the wheel. Texters often weave in and out of lanes, and drive more slowly.
“If you’re looking down, and you’re not paying attention to the road, you may let off the gas and instead of running 55 or 60, you’re running 35 or 40,” Moody says. “Those are the kind of things law enforcement can look for. Once we see those violations, why did that violation occur?”
Oh, and from there, they can also subpoena your cell phone records. So, there’s that too.
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Too funny. The good thing about presbyopia is that I can’t text on a little phone unless I’m completely stationary in just the right light after taking my contacts out. So I would need an iPAD sized device to text while driving in which case it would be resting up on the dashboard and it would look like I was messing with a GPS device or tapping to music, not texting.
B&L multifocals!! They rock! I can now READ! W00t!
Does texting while sitting at a red light count?
Yes, I believe it does.
Capuchins!!! LOL
Is reading DM while driving illegal too? Yet another reason to move to Chicago.
No, writerchad, only posting to DM is illegal under the law. Perhaps we can get live streaming versions of DecaturMetro on tape so that we can safely dwdm…
Better yet, how about a radio station where Daren Wang reads all the latest comments in real time? AND he’ll come up with unique voices for every commenter.
“But how will they know I’m texting and not reading ancient parchment scrolls?!”, you ask distractedly, glancing down at your Blackberry.
I would love to watch the evening news on 11alive or CBS46 and see a story about a police offer pulling over a driver who was in fact reading an ancient parchment (still in its protective covering). Or who had suddenly become transfixed by a wound whose stitches had been removed recently.
Texters often weave in and out of lanes, and drive more slowly.
Wait a hare there, doesn’t a portion of motorists already drive that way?
“If you’re looking down, and you’re not paying attention to the road, you may let off the gas and instead of running 55 or 60, you’re running 35 or 40
See aforementioned remark about wound on the hand. If law enforcement personnel were to use devices that could track smartphone activity (‘quit lyin, my machine here just told me you sent a text’), the driver (or the driver’s lawyer) could point out that the smart phone was in a bag in the back seat. The activity detected must’ve been a received text.
I still want to read or watch the news and see a piece about an officer pulling over a woman because she was putting on eye make-up.
Lord, the po-po can’t/won’t even ticket the fools who constantly cross in and out of the carpool lanes over the double white lines during rush hours. And they expect us to believe they can tell when folks are texting? Please!
The police also say they can detect speeding with something called a radar detector. Surely this new technology will eliminate the problem of driver exceeding posted speed limits. Thus, the fact that police can tell when drivers are texting will also eliminate texting while driving. Surely . . .
It will be interesting to see how this plays out, though, because most drivers are going to deny they were texting. And if they don’t send a text, their cell phone records won’t confirm police suspicion, even if the suspicion was correct at the time. I would expect MANY of these tickets to be challenged, and many of the challenges to be successful. So the administrative burden of enforcement here could be huge.
I think it is safe to assume anyone obeying the speed limit on I-285 (55 mph) is texting. lol
I’m starting to wonder if the folks who wrote this law have used a smart phone. Does it count if I am consulting directions on my phone? Reading a text? Do I have to be typing to get in trouble?
What about all those people watching TV while they drive (if you are ever on 285, you know what I mean)??
This is the most relevant portion of the new law:
“No person shall operate a motor vehicle on any public road or highway of this state while using a wireless telecommunications device to write, send, or read any text based communication, including but not limited to a text message, instant message, electronic mail, or Internet data.”
So merely receiving the message doesn’t count; you have to actually read it to violate the law. Consulting Google maps on your I phone or BB would appear to violate the law — it’s “internet data,” I presume.
Without reviewing all of the statutes out there, I believe that actually watching TV while you drive is probably illegal under distracted driving statutes. But it’s not a hot-button issue right now, like texting seems to be.
Does this law apply to police officers as well? I see plenty of them driving while texting and talking on the cell.
To me it’s simple – this is a deterrent, such as DUI laws, speed limit laws, seat belt laws, etc – there will always be people who chose to break the law and at least the police will now have some power to try to prevent this as they do the other laws to make driving safer and it may make people think twice before putting their life and the lives of others at risk.
Will they catch everyone, no of course not, but I think this law is a move in the right direction. The stats are out there that using a phone in any capacity impairs your ability to drive safely. And yes, the can view our phone records and verify – I don’t think the burden of getting those from the phone company is that high.
I am all for supporting our underpaid and understaffed police officers rather than being critical of them
I’ve gotta say, it’s an epidemic. Driving 285 twice everyday, it’s stunning how many people are doing OTD – Other Than Driving – on the road. And as silly as it sounds, you *can* easily tell when someone is texting or talking. Drive enough, and you can pick them out from a long way off. Mostly, it’s driving dramatically slower than the flow of traffic, with a line of honking cars behind. A cop could drive right up next to them and snap a photo and they wouldn’t even notice.
Now, this law doesn’t include eating, reading books, shaving or putting on makeup, but I see that so often its disturbing. Hopefully those are covered under some sort of distracted driving definition. But i guess we can’t stop everyone from doing stupid things – most of us wouldn’t be allowed out of bed.
I play this game called “drunk driver” or “cellphone driver”… Usually, the cellphone driver is much much more obvious because they are driving far more recklessly than the drunk. The fact that they have to codify this into is pathetic.
i still say just enforce reckless driving. if you’re speeding, weaving in-n-out of traffic, cutting people off, turning right from the left lane…on-and-on…you get a ticket. in the last 3 months, i’ve seen people driving on the interstate reading newspapers/magazines/books.
Thank you! It’s not about needling out every little cause, it’s about managing the result. If you can text and not kill people, then good for you. But if you’re driving like a drunk coke head sitting on a nail, then you get a ticket. Seems easier to me to deal with legally, too? “I saw you driving like an a**. See you in court.” vs “I saw your behavior and I believe you to be texting.”
Using the phone while driving a motor vehicle is distracting, regardless of whether you’re texting or talking or looking up traffic conditions. If I or a loved one is ever mangled or killed in a motor vehicle accident involving another driver who is impaired by drink or drugs, I want legal recourse. The same goes for a driver impaired by talking on the phone or texting or watching TV or putting on makeup or anything else. Those are choices, and every one of us should be forced if necessary to take responsibility for those choices. Of course, laws governing these things can be problematic to enforce–so was drunk driving viewed, once upon a time. But having even semi-toothy laws on the books tends to (1) serve as a deterrent, and (2) help us help ourselves to become the kind of society we say we want to be.
Here’s the link to SB 360: http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2009_10/fulltext/sb360.htm
Yes, the law applies to reading DM under the “…read any text based communication, including…Internet data.”
In reference to police and other exceptions:
(c) The provisions of this Code section shall not apply to:
(1) A person reporting a traffic accident, medical emergency, fire, serious road hazard, or a situation in which the person reasonably believes a person’s health or safety is in immediate jeopardy;
(2) A person reporting the perpetration or potential perpetration of a crime;
(3) A public utility employee or contractor acting within the scope of his or her employment when responding to a public utility emergency;
(4) A law enforcement officer, firefighter, emergency medical services personnel, ambulance driver, or other similarly employed public safety first responder during the performance of his or her official duties; or
(5) A person engaging in wireless communication while in a motor vehicle which is lawfully parked.
Also, here’s the new law prohibiting telephone conversations by young drivers: http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/fulltext/hb23.htm
Sorry, Bill, I was trying to be silly. But that is cool that you posted it. It’s good they gave the police an out on using NCIC from the car!
That’d be almost amusing otherwise: Here’s your ticket… And here’s yours, for running my plates while driving! See you in court. Again — just kidding. It’s the little things, I suppose.