Posted on 10/26/2009 9:54:41 AM PDT by ZGuy
A friend just got a ticket for talking on his cell phone while in his parked car in a Starbucks parking lot. He got his coffee and, with the car parked, started the engine and made a call to his next appointment to say he was on his way. A cop pulled up, walked over and wrote him up for talking on his cell phone while “driving” (even though the car wasn’t on the road or moving). The cop said that the new law is interpreted the same way as drunk driving--if you are behind the wheel of a car, drunk, while the engine is running, you can be arrested for DWI. So too they can write you up for talking on a cell phone while behind the wheel of a running, albeit parked, vehicle. The law is another gift from Arnold.
Ridiculous! When the driver hangs up, the call is over. If he’s DUI, he’s DUI for a while.
This isn’t a question of impairment; it is a question of ‘revenue’ for a severely strapped bankrupt state.
His mistake was in starting the engine. Sorry happens to be the way it is being enforced. Get a hands free voice activated system then you don’t have this problem
Another whizkid interpretation to keep LEO’s from thinking.
Shouldn’t he be DRIVING to get a DUI?
Cart before the horse to get easier convictions.
People have been busted in their own driveways listening to the radio.
i've wondered if this was the case... to be safe, i just wear a headset... i would try fighting this ticket...
So...how do the cops talk to their stations these days?
Take it to court.
Demand a jury trial.
The judge may side with the cop. But there’s no way normal people would find this guy guilty.
It ceased being about public safety a LONG time ago... It’s about revenue!
The law was intended to stop distracted driving and to give a legislator something to campaign on, not hurting responsible people having a cup of coffee.
Its hard to believe this is really if he’s on private property. If he was on the road then maybe but not in the situation in the story. Id go to court and fight it.
If someone is drunk behind the wheel in a parked vehicle, that is presumptive evidence of DUI: In the driver’s seat of a car means he intends to drive, and he will be drunk for a while. There’s no “off” button for that. A phone conversation ends in an instant and the impairment is completely gone.
Suppose you are driving by yourself and talking on a hands-free device. Are you at risk of being pulled over for suspicion of using a cell phone?
However, I have to go with the nanny state in banning cell phone use while driving (except hands free) since my elderly mother got T-boned and badly injured by a dope yakking while driving.
An unfortunate side-effect of any law is that you have little nazis like this who abandon common sense in the enforcement.
Yeah, the person should have made the call before they started the engine. But like drunken driving, there ought to be a huge difference in the penalty beween somebody driving 5 m.p.h. two miles home and someone cruising down the wrong side of the freeway at 70 mph.
A decent cop would give them a written warning. A decent judge would dismiss the case and consider it lesson learned for the inconvenience of taking time off work to show up in court.
What are the chances of being seen by a cop in a coffee shop parking lot?
It is all about neoprohibition and even the founder of MADD herself left the organization when she realized that was the goal.
In Dallas they were citing people ($500 a pop) at a hotel bar with “public intoxication” after a few drinks because “you MIGHT get behind the wheel later to get some food at a burger joint” even though they were staying at the hotel.
In Utah they want ALL cars to have breathalyzer ignition systems.
But because you are in a car is “evidence” that you are “going somewhere” then the driver with the engine running and cellphone engaged was “driving”.
Circular discussion.
Either the vehicle is on the road or it isn’t. They took a man to court for fatally shooting to robbers who were coming to a man’s property because he “may have acted too soon”.
Lots of people talk to themselves or sing along to the radio. Better knock that off. :•)
Good point. Also how about all taxi cabs, UPS trucks, interstate semi traffic. Are all of these groups excepted under the law from talking while driving? Once again, does this law circumvent the equal protections clause of the constitution? What is the difference if a driver of a taxi talks on a radio versus a cell phone?
Silly. Everyone knows laws don’t apply to cops. Ever met a cop who actually comes to a full stop at a stop sign?
This enforcement policy has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with California’s mega-billion dollar deficit.
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