Also it is about the SUPER LOW odds of getting caught. Keep in mind that speeding, reckless driving or running a red light require a cop to be close enough to see you do this.
Not necessarily. Law-enforcement doesn’t always have to be present. You can have a viable witness who makes a written statement coborrating what they witnessed, which can be sufficient for law-enforcement to take action. The witness has to be willing to participate in the investigation and cannot be anonymous.
And this can be usually only seen from a couple of blocks away at most. So the chances of being caught are low. Now add that for a cop to see you on your phone they must be VERY close to you to notice this. Often they would need to be in the next lane or right behind you. So the odds of getting caught on a phone are exponentially lower than getting caught speeding which are already low..
For example, if you take texting while driving, all law-enforcement needs is some form of reasonable suspicion of a traffic violation to legally stop the driver (I.e Operating left of Center, following to closely, unsafe lane deviation) , if the driver admits they were texting while driving, {which in my state is against the law}, then we can take action for this specifc violation. But the *driving behavior* would be the reason for the stop [Which the Officer should witness first hand], however there is a caveat; if I asked the driver while they driving and using their phone, I was observing their erratic driving, if the driver admits they were texting while driving, that’s a violation. If they admit they were “Reading an email” on their phone while driving, that is not a
specific violation, at most, Its inattentive driving. (Every state my vary here.) Even if the driver is lying, I would have to be able to prove (And articulate in my report) that the driver was doing something otherwise like texting while driving.
People are becoming MORE addicted to being connected all the time and will not go back to LESS information/connection. It is a simple FACT that the problem will continue to get WORSE and the only real solution is to get people off driving.
Absolutely. Smart phones, Apple Watches, all these safety features and tech inside vehicles, they’re all distractions in some form or another
if the driver *allows* it to be. If it was up to me and somebody caused an accident because they were distracted by their Apple Watch or iPhone, I would suspend them and have them take a remedial driving course at minimum.