Though not nearly as extreme, this reminds me of the news piece two nights ago that showed a 6-year old girl getting pat down by a TSA agent at an airport in New Orleans. With so many blatant offenders out there, I find it hard that the officer couldn’t wait a few minutes for a real hands-free cell phone/texting violator to roll by.

Your intuition about a quota (which we are told do not exist) is also pretty close to the mark. The officer told me that he had been instructed to exercise a “100% enforcement policy” because apparently “April”, is no texting while driving month. His supervisor had told all traffic officers to make it top priority. One could easily infer a quota situation from his statement.

I don’t hold out much hope for dropped charges, but I would like to do my part to spread the information around. My biggest frustration is that I have little patience for dangerous driving, and I, fully assumed I was breaking no law. It seems without constantly monitoring of all the new and ratified vehicle codes, it is near impossible to ever be sure. Even now, I’m vague on whether there is any law against what I did.

As for dialing the phone while driving, the law (cvc 23123) originally stated that it was not prohibited to enter a name or number for the purpose of making or receiving a phone call. “Texting” was not specifically prohibited, but is highly discouraged by the end user. It is recommended that you pull over or wait to dial or text at a traffic light. Umm… I don’t recommend that.

With the addition of cvc 23123.5 which banned texting completely, you are still allowed to dial. However, if the officer wants to assume you were “texting, emailing or instant messaging”, they are completely entitled to write a ticket at which point it becomes your word against theirs. Ironically, the fact that I was NOT dialing a phone number may actually be what makes what I did illegal.

If by some miracle I am cleared of the citation, I will post my written rebuttal. Other than that, I can only strongly urge other drivers to keep track of the laws (the best they can), not to text or talk irresponsibly, and be aware of the possible far reaching affects of their actions. When someone is killed, by a “texting driver” not only is a life lost, but we may potentially loose other things we take for granted as well. There was a time when nobody would have ever believed you could be cited for such a benign behavior as pressing skip. Have we completely lost the ability to judge what is safe and reasonable for ourselves?

If we continue to act irresponsibly and then complain about the consequences (i.e. traffic accidents and/or fatalities), who knows which basic freedom we could loose next. I hate to sound so melodramatic, but I cherish my freedom and hate to see it eaten away by stupid things like text messaging.

I was stopped at a red light at the time and the entire “incident” took less than a second. Because I was stopped, the officer had a clear view of me reaching down to “handle” my “hand-held device”.

For the record, I am in favor of the cvc 23123 banning the use of wireless communication while driving. I feel it is a big distraction to talk or text and I don’t do so while driving. I don’t even use a hands free device to have a conversation while driving because I think even that can be too distracting.

I do however use my iPhone to listen to music while I drive and I try to do so responsibly. I felt that being stopped at a stoplight was a safe time to press the skip button. By comparison, it is no more distracting than changing the radio station and far safer and less distracting than changing a CD (or cassette) all of which are not prohibited.

The citation I received was cvc 23123.5, which specifically prohibits text-based communications while driving. The officer informed me that even though I was not actually communicating, the law is vague enough as to include “any handling of hand-held devices” and can easily fall under the umbrella of “distracted driving”. He also informed me that a first offense carried a minimum fine of $182 in his district last year, and that it was most likely higher this year.

Unfortunately for me, the wording of the law is so vague that even with evidence that I was not talking, texting or emailing I will most likely still be found guilty. This seems to point to a larger problem. Are we too incompetent to apply reasonable discretion to interpreting the word of the law, or is it necessary too word the laws so specifically as to include every possible circumstance so that nobody will be able to interpret them without an attorney?

It is a tricky problem, but the only answer seems to be that we should all be capable of practicing personal responsibility and should have faith that the legal system will not take advantage of vaguely worded laws when it comes time to make a judgement. Sadly this does not seem to be the case at this time.

As for me, I will most likely still use my iPod while driving. However armed with this new information, I will exercise extreme caution when I choose to “criminally” change a song. I recommend you do too.

I’m assuming this is illegal, because it requires me to have my cell phone in my hand, and look down. But what if the cell phone is mounted on the dash? (which would essentially be no different then using the car stereo to change the station)