School Zones & Cell Phones

[Keith B]

I see nothing wrong with the stop. The police man thought you were texting, you told him you were not texting... done deal.

The policeman THOUGHT.....

Not a very high bar you're setting...

A policeman can THINK whatever they want.... they cannot act without PROOF
It requires PROOF to exceed the burden set forth in the 4th Amendment.

It is NOT, IN ANY way OK for anyone to stop me while driving my car because they are unable to see both of my hands.
The day this becomes the law is the day America is lost forever.

OMG.! I'm becoming a Libertarian.!

Actually, they can. All that is required to make the stop is reasonable suspicion. In this case, I believe he had that. However, he should have asked IF the OP was texting or not and allowed for an explaianation instead of just assuming that was what he was doing.

[RoyGBiv]

I see nothing wrong with the stop. The police man thought you were texting, you told him you were not texting... done deal.

The policeman THOUGHT.....

Not a very high bar you're setting...

A policeman can THINK whatever they want.... they cannot act without PROOF
It requires PROOF to exceed the burden set forth in the 4th Amendment.

It is NOT, IN ANY way OK for anyone to stop me while driving my car because they are unable to see both of my hands.
The day this becomes the law is the day America is lost forever.

OMG.! I'm becoming a Libertarian.!

Actually, they can. All that is required to make the stop is reasonable suspicion. In this case, I believe he had that. However, he should have asked IF the OP was texting or not and allowed for an explaianation instead of just assuming that was what he was doing.

Yes.. Reasonable Suspicion is the threshold... Agreed.
I guess I'm a bit chafed that "not seeing both my hands on the wheel" might become "reasonable suspicion" that I'm texting in a school zone.
That would be setting the bar WAY too low, IMO.

[Charles L. Cotton]

This exemplifies the problem with passing well-intended but unenforceable laws. That aside, the only anti-texting bill I knew about was vetoed by Perry because it was tacked on a good LEO bill. What am I missing?

Chas.

[RottenApple]

This exemplifies the problem with passing well-intended but unenforceable laws. That aside, the only anti-texting bill I knew about was vetoed by Perry because it was tacked on a good LEO bill. What am I missing?

Chas.

Many municipalities/counties have passed ordinances that ban hand-held phone usage (not just texting) in school zones. Wylie has one and it's a $200 fine.

[kd5yig]

LOL. Siri is pretty neat. It can perform web searches, get information on weather (local & otherwise), provide directions from point A to point B, etc, etc. And all voice activated. The best part is that it responds using natural language instead of a specific, pre-defined series of commands.

My wife is a home care nurse and communicates extensively via text messages with her nurses, physical therapists, etc. Being able to do it all handsfree is a huge benefit to her.

Just as a note, Windows Phone 7 with the Mango update can do all of these things as well. Now if the Nokia hardware would just hurry up and get to the US.

[txjim42]

I sure wish someone would come up with a solution for cell-phones/driving in general. Today I was sitting at a red-light, in a school-zone and watched in amazement as a woman not only drove through a red-light doing around 20mph but she nearly ran over the elderly crossing-guard standing in the road... All without ever noticing the crossing guard, the light or probably anyone/anything else around her while she continued to yammer on at the phone stuck to the side of her head. Thankfully the old guy was paying attention and didn't step in front of her...

[sjfcontrol]

You are prohibited from using cell phones entirely -- even hands free -- in school zones in McKinney.
And yet you can drive with children in the car -- a MUCH bigger distraction, IMO.

(So don't get caught singing along with the radio (or talking to yourself) -- might get nabbed! )

[C-dub]

You are prohibited from using cell phones entirely -- even hands free -- in school zones in McKinney.
And yet you can drive with children in the car -- a MUCH bigger distraction, IMO.

(So don't get caught singing along with the radio (or talking to yourself) -- might get nabbed! )

While putting on makeup and eating your breakfast. No kidding.

[speedsix]

...nobody likes to see a cop "fishing" when he's supposed to be working...this was arrogant, assumptive, and condescending, not to speak of unneccessary...and about as reasonable as stopping you and accusing you of smoking marijuana because he looked over and saw cigarette smoke in your car...

[sjfcontrol]

You are prohibited from using cell phones entirely -- even hands free -- in school zones in McKinney.
And yet you can drive with children in the car -- a MUCH bigger distraction, IMO.

(So don't get caught singing along with the radio (or talking to yourself) -- might get nabbed! )

While putting on makeup and eating your breakfast. No kidding.

Ummm... I rarely put on makeup in the car -- though I have been know to shave (electric), or have a snack.

[strider67]

At my daughter's elementary school, LEOs throw spike-strips down in front of your car if they see you texting. Not really, but I'd be ok with it. I have yelled for drivers to slow down on more than one occasion.

I'm good with the no-texting law, but the both hands visible thing is a little bit of a stretch...

[speedsix]

...the drivers I see speeding, turning left in front of me, and texting/talking on the cell phone in the school zone on my street...are the parents picking up/dropping off the kids...it's been that way for the ten years since I moved here...the stop signs around the school are mostly run by same and school bus drivers...but there's little enforcement there...too detrimental to traffic "flow"...

[strider67]

...the drivers I see speeding, turning left in front of me, and texting/talking on the cell phone in the school zone on my street...are the parents picking up/dropping off the kids...it's been that way for the ten years since I moved here...the stop signs around the school are mostly run by same and school bus drivers...but there's little enforcement there...too detrimental to traffic "flow"...

They need to fine the parents instead of punishing the kids when they are causing their kids to be late to class.

[speedsix]

...starts at home...we got told ONCE to get out of bed...after that, it was non-verbal communication...we were ready on time and in our seats at school ready to learn...though sometimes leaning to one side or the other...

[chuckybrown]

A few weeks ago I had a friend get a "talking on a cell phone" ticket in a school zone out in Katy. On a school holiday. Cop told him that the holiday didn't matter, he was in a school zone during zone hours.

He's not gone to court yet.....