The Washington Traffic Safety Commission is busy trying to push through a legislative rewrite of the state’s outdated distracted driving law, which limits itself to texting while behind the wheel.
The panel just released an online video that shows officers pulling over a pair of distracted drivers. Both drivers explain away their actions as something other than texting. One man says he was entering GPS data into a smartphone; another guy who was weaving repeatedly into a bike lane beats the ticket by saying he was checking his currency-trading updates.
“Everything else you can do on your phone is just as dangerous as texting, but these other behaviors aren’t necessarily illegal,” one trooper says on the video. Another says the courts have been clear — you’re not getting a conviction without an admission of texting. Any volunteers?
Ride along with these frustrated officers:
Doesn’t anyone realize HOW MANY of our loved ones could have been KILLED or disabled while those texters were driving? Just ‘Turn Off Cell B/4 Driving’! STAY SAFE!!