Distracted Driving Ticket

[Dumbass17]

I'm so fucking sick of seeing people driving and texting! I swear I see more people driving and texting than not these days. I don't care if it's at an intersection and you're for a light or whatever. Put your phone on vibrate. (yes I used to text and drive, but I've stopped since my friends bf was doing it while she was a passenger and then he rear ended a truck and she was almost paralysed (6months she couldn't walk)

[Mar]

Most likely the cop asked to see her phone and she gave it to him. In that case he did nothing wrong, she had the option to say no. He's allowed to ask. I could ask you for $20, it doesn't mean you have to give it to me.

[chathamf]

Originally posted by FraserB
How much effort are you willing to put into fighting this?

I'm confident that you could get everything the cop got from the phone tossed and have a decent chance of having the whole thing tossed.

Kind of want to fight it just because it seems like what happened here wasn't right. Again I'm not saying that distracted driving is right and I am not saying she shouldn't be ticketed for it. The reason for this post was to see if what the cop did was wrong or not. I think going through someones phone without a search warrant is wrong. Maybe he had the right but so far I can't find anything on it.

[rx7_turbo2]

Originally posted by chathamf


Kind of want to fight it just because it seems like what happened here wasn't right. Again I'm not saying that distracted driving is right and I am not saying she shouldn't be ticketed for it. The reason for this post was to see if what the cop did was wrong or not. I think going through someones phone without a search warrant is wrong. Maybe he had the right but so far I can't find anything on it.

The officer can ask to see the phone, and I think can ask you to unlock it, but you can refuse both of those requests. If you don't refuse I'm not sure there's much you can do about it.

[frizzlefry]

First I will say that using a phone while driving makes that person a cumwad. I had a guy today start using his phone at a red light and i had to hold my horn down for exactly 13 seconds before he realized the light had been green for 20 seconds. The lowest form of driver uses their phone while driving. Equal to drunks IMO.

But, in terms of taking the cell phone. Recent supreme court rulings have determined that police can search your phone without a warrant but what they look for MUST be directly related to your arrest. IE no surprise arrest because of pot plant photos when they were looking for evidence of stalking. But a traffic ticket is not an arrest. So the cop had no right to take the phone. Not that it matters at all, he just has to see you using it while in a car to issue the ticket. They don't need to document the text messages or anything for it to stick.

Edit: In short, if you are under arrest they can take your phone but only look for/use information directly related to your arrest. If its a traffic ticket they have no right at all to search your phone unless they ask and you say ok. You say ok then there is no recourse and the cop did nothing wrong.

[Mar]

I think anyone opposed to using a phone while driving must be under 25. It was perfectly fine and perfectly safe for over 10 years of my driving life and now all of a sudden it makes you a crazy lunatic? You can't say it's so evil now when nobody gave a shit 10 years ago.

[16hypen3sp]

Originally posted by Mar
I think anyone opposed to using a phone while driving must be under 25. It was perfectly fine and perfectly safe for over 10 years of my driving life and now all of a sudden it makes you a crazy lunatic? You can't say it's so evil now when nobody gave a shit 10 years ago.

I agree and disagree. It's not so much as talking on your cell phone thats the problem. It's the texting. And 10 years ago, texting seemed to start taking off and caused the problem.

IMO.

[FraserB]

Originally posted by frizzlefry


Edit: In short, if you are under arrest they can take your phone but only look for/use information directly related to your arrest. If its a traffic ticket they have no right at all to search your phone unless they ask and you say ok. You say ok then there is no recourse and the cop did nothing wrong.

The mindset of the person being stopped and how the request was made would also be considered. A young woman who is in a stressful situation would be a lot more willing to comply with a demand a police officer knew was wrong. That should be taken into account as well.

I'm not advocating for distracted driving, but against police using someone's emotional or mental state against them to gain compliance for a request they know has been ruled on.