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The ticket was for using the phone, not holding it. Distracted driving is a big hazard everywhere, especially on a crowded freeway, where you were driving.
Innatentive driving is inattentive driving no matter what you want to pick and choose as to what you were doing. Either way we all to a point do it, but some don't cry about it when they get popped because its unfair. I was trying to play music not text.
How on earth does that relate in any way to what I said? I was pointing out that the statute is continually being misread by almost everyone in this thread.
Here's your problem. You need to read the whole phrase, which is "performing a command or request to access a world wide web page". That isn't what the driver was doing.
Correctly understood, legal reasoning should defeat the ticket. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be surprised for a judge to either have the kind of visceral reaction that most posters here have had, or to conclude that close enough is good enough for a traffic ticket.
I remember years ago the news reporting about a guy striking and killing a jogger because, it was found out later, he was distracted due to excessive fiddling with his car stereo. A cell phone had NOTHING to do with it.
No one expressed outrage, though, they were too busy expressing outrage over "near misses," as in occasions on the road which did NOT lead to any accidents, involving cellular phones.
Hmmm.
Someone addresses this earlier. Compare the rate of accidents with a cell phone to the rate of those fiddling with a radio. The rate with cell phones has forced them to pass these laws. A teen rear ended my car while I was sitting at a red light for over a minute. She was using her phone. There's no way to know if she was texting or changing a song. This relates to the OP in that the cop probably did not believe his claim of changing songs. Let's see if a judge believes him.
...As for radio control or taking calls all I have to do is hit one button. I automatically connect to my phone to my car. It's muscle memory as to its location and I can call people, answer phone calls or play music. Any texts I get I answer when I stop at my destination. It's not that important.
Innatentive driving is inattentive driving no matter what you want to pick and choose as to what you were doing. Either way we all to a point do it, but some don't cry about it when they get popped because its unfair. I was trying to play music not text.
There is a big difference between playing music already stored on your phone and composing text messages. Give the guy a break, not all of us drive vehicles with steering wheel controls or bluetooth connectivity. My 2008 Chevy truck (not THAT old) has no wheel controls other than cruise and no bluetooth. Remember, GM was promoting OnStar for many years, so you had to reach for a tiny button on the mirror and of course there was no bluetooth.
As an aside question, I was wondering, since cell phones and hands free laws have been around a lot longer than bluetooth and wheel controls in autos, how did drivers obey the letter of the law back in those days?
How did we traverse from discussing the legality of listening to music stored on a phone to anal chitchat?
Interesting, Halberto . . .
No one is discussing the legality of listening to music . . . Being distracted while "fiddle-farting" with Cell Phones and/or other Electronic Devices has been proven to be DANGEROUS and CAUSES ACCIDENTS.
Possibly you need to be on the receiving end either directly or indirectly in order to understand this proven fact.
In part B of that law/code, you broke the law in he first 8 words. And you did it a place on the highway where you should have been more alert.
You are in the wrong, PAY THE TICKET.
Completely incorrect. You cannot take sentence fragments and use them out of context to fit your opinion. If what you say was true, which it most certainly is NOT, then it would also be illegal to use or even handle a purpose built GPS device or an electronic cigarette or a digital wrist watch or anything else that contains electronics. The first 8 words as you point out MUST be qualified by the rest of the paragraph.
Last night I was coming home from Scarsdale to Rye Brook. I eased into moderately heavy traffic on the Hutchinson Parkway. I picked up my phone to change the song. Not to my ear, mind you. I jockeyed to the left lane to avoid traffic heading for an exit about 1/2 mile away. I noticed I was about to pass a police car going exactly 55 mph so I slowed down to that speed. He slowed down to 50 mph so I passed him and moved into the right lane. He put his lights on.
I moved onto the shoulder. He said to keep moving to the next exit, which I did. When he approached my car window I asked "what's this for" and he said "you were texting, I saw it." I offered him to look at my phone to see if there were any recent texts. He declined. When he came back with the ticket he said "I had been holding the phone." The law in question states:
To me, this is outrageous. The officer is targeting law abiding citizens and lawful activity in order to show that he was actively doing his job. I don't think there are "quotas" but I do believe that officers are under pressure to generate activity. My inclination is to fight this one on the merits. Thoughts?
You did something you knew you should not and now you are crying because a cop caught you.
Well done to the Officer who took the time to teach you the law and ensure that if nothing else you will think twice before dicking around with your phone on a major road.
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