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NY troopers in big SUVs peer in on texting drivers

Rocketman

Rocketman

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MOUNT PLEASANT, N.Y. (AP) -- Even for a state trooper, it's not easy to spot drivers who are texting. Their smartphones are down on their laps, not at their ears. And they're probably not moving their lips.

That's why New York has given state police 32 tall, unmarked SUVs to better peer down at drivers' hands, part of one of the nation's most aggressive attacks on texting while driving that also includes steeper penalties and dozens of highway "Texting Zones," where motorists can pull over to use their devices.

"Look at that," Trooper Clayton Howell says, pulling alongside a black BMW while patrolling the highways north of New York City. "This guy's looking down. I can see his thumb on the phone. I think we got him."

After a quick wail of the siren and a flash of the tucked-away flashers, an accountant from the suburbs is pulled over and politely given a ticket.

New York is among 41 states that ban text messaging for all drivers and is among only 12 that prohibit using hand-held cellphones. The state this year stiffened penalties for motorists caught using hand-held devices to talk or text, increasing penalty points on the driving record from three to five, along with tickets that carry fines of up to $200.

With the tough new penalties came tougher enforcement. In a two-month crackdown this summer, troopers handed out 5,553 tickets for texting while driving, compared to 924 in the same period last year.

News from The Associated Press
 
Hell with tickets, destroy the phone on site and kick the user in the nuts. That's my remedy.
 
Seems to me that it's easy enough to find out if a driver was texting at the time around an accident and instead of endangering everyone else as the cops are looking into cars instead of their own driving, just give super high charges for anyone in an accident or speeding or other violation that is also determined to have been texting, though the talking part I don't know. Seems the hands free isn't as bad if drivers are sure to let the folks they're talking to know that they are driving and may not be paying full attention to the phone call.

Me I only talk on the phone while driving for 2 min type calls to say I'm running late, or such, UNLESS I am on the wide open highway and there's little or no traffic and I'll be on the road for a few more hours, ie long distance travel. I've never texted unless I pull over, or am in completely stopped traffic as LA freeways often become. I don't even read incoming texts unless I'm at a complete stop.
 
Phone confiscation is not a bad idea... we do it in classrooms. Nut kicking... that is not allowed though.
 
Rocketman said:
MOUNT PLEASANT, N.Y. (AP) -- Even for a state trooper, it's not easy to spot drivers who are texting. Their smartphones are down on their laps, not at their ears. And they're probably not moving their lips.

That's why New York has given state police 32 tall, unmarked SUVs to better peer down at drivers' hands, part of one of the nation's most aggressive attacks on texting while driving that also includes steeper penalties and dozens of highway "Texting Zones," where motorists can pull over to use their devices.

"Look at that," Trooper Clayton Howell says, pulling alongside a black BMW while patrolling the highways north of New York City. "This guy's looking down. I can see his thumb on the phone. I think we got him."

After a quick wail of the siren and a flash of the tucked-away flashers, an accountant from the suburbs is pulled over and politely given a ticket.

New York is among 41 states that ban text messaging for all drivers and is among only 12 that prohibit using hand-held cellphones. The state this year stiffened penalties for motorists caught using hand-held devices to talk or text, increasing penalty points on the driving record from three to five, along with tickets that carry fines of up to $200.

With the tough new penalties came tougher enforcement. In a two-month crackdown this summer, troopers handed out 5,553 tickets for texting while driving, compared to 924 in the same period last year.

News from The Associated Press
Click to expand...

I guess we're low tech or cheap here - we had a story in the news a few months back indicating that the police in one of our suburbs would ride the bus and look down on car drivers to determine if someone was talking or texting on their phone while driving. The officer would then radio to a patrol unit and the driver would be pulled over and charged.

No such thing as privacy anymore.
 
I thought that is what all the drones are for.

I would have to say that among the most pressing issues in our nation, is that people aren't ticketed and arrested enough, and when they are the fines are way too low and jail time too short.

It is inexcusable that drivers aren't required to have a video camera in their vehicles watching and listening to everything they are doing and saying. They could be plotting a terrorist attack and we wouldn't even know it. And why anyone can start a car without blowing into a breathalyzer is totally outrageous failure of government to do it's job.

People forget what the American Revolution was about. It was that the King of England wasn't policing people enough. The colonists wanted a government that will take charge of people's lives and behavior. That's where the slogan "Give me laws or give me death" came from.
 
Last edited:
clownboy said:
Hell with tickets, destroy the phone on site and kick the user in the nuts. That's my remedy.
Click to expand...

Right. We don't need tickets and courts, just let the officers destroy property and administer street beatings. Its all implied in the "living document" called the constitution. ;)
 
CanadaJohn said:
I guess we're low tech or cheap here - we had a story in the news a few months back indicating that the police in one of our suburbs would ride the bus and look down on car drivers to determine if someone was talking or texting on their phone while driving. The officer would then radio to a patrol unit and the driver would be pulled over and charged.

No such thing as privacy anymore.
Click to expand...

I consider myself very observant as i drive over 70k miles/year. I watch mirrors, cars with government tags or multiple antennas on their car. I watch large groups of cars driving slower. I own a high tech radar detector and use the reflective material on my license plate the gives cameras a white image. I don't trust any branch of government anymore.
 
joko104 said:
I thought that is what all the drones are for.

I would have to say that among the most pressing issues in our nation, is that people aren't ticketed and arrested enough, and when they are the fines are way to low and jail time too short.

It is inexcusable that drivers aren't required to have a video camera in their vehicles watching and listening to everything they are doing and saying. They could be plotting a terrorist attack and we wouldn't even know it. And why anyone can start a car without blowing into a breathalyzer is totally outrageous failure of government to do it's job.

People forget what the American Revolution was about. It was that the King of England wasn't policing people enough. The colonists wanted a government that will take charge of people's lives and behavior. That's where the slogan "Give me laws or give me death" came from.
Click to expand...

Yeah, **** public safety. Allu Ackbar!
 
Rocketman said:
I consider myself very observant as i drive over 70k miles/year. I watch mirrors, cars with government tags or multiple antennas on their car. I watch large groups of cars driving slower. I own a high tech radar detector and use the reflective material on my license plate the gives cameras a white image. I don't trust any branch of government anymore.
Click to expand...

What about large groups of cars driving slower?
 
joko104 said:
I thought that is what all the drones are for.

I would have to say that among the most pressing issues in our nation, is that people aren't ticketed and arrested enough, and when they are the fines are way to low and jail time too short.

It is inexcusable that drivers aren't required to have a video camera in their vehicles watching and listening to everything they are doing and saying. They could be plotting a terrorist attack and we wouldn't even know it. And why anyone can start a car without blowing into a breathalyzer is totally outrageous failure of government to do it's job.

People forget what the American Revolution was about. It was that the King of England wasn't policing people enough. The colonists wanted a government that will take charge of people's lives and behavior. That's where the slogan "Give me laws or give me death" came from.
Click to expand...

Absolutely! If a citizen would dare to use their personal communication device in an unapproved manner then they might also remove mattress tags or keep their medications in non-child proof containers. We need more nannies, since the people have no regard for our 100K+ laws. After three such offenses then the hardened criminal should be placed on a giant hamster wheel and forced to jog, creating "green"' energy, for not less than 20 years. ;)
 
ttwtt78640 said:
Right. We don't need tickets and courts, just let the officers destroy property and administer street beatings. Its all implied in the "living document" called the constitution. ;)
Click to expand...

Meh, common sense, justice and law are often different things. Just my knee jerk reaction to real jerks. Of course my real solution is to ticket the offenders and then penalize them by removing their licence for at least a year.
 
Rocketman said:
MOUNT PLEASANT, N.Y. (AP) -- Even for a state trooper, it's not easy to spot drivers who are texting. Their smartphones are down on their laps, not at their ears. And they're probably not moving their lips.

That's why New York has given state police 32 tall, unmarked SUVs to better peer down at drivers' hands, part of one of the nation's most aggressive attacks on texting while driving that also includes steeper penalties and dozens of highway "Texting Zones," where motorists can pull over to use their devices.

"Look at that," Trooper Clayton Howell says, pulling alongside a black BMW while patrolling the highways north of New York City. "This guy's looking down. I can see his thumb on the phone. I think we got him."

After a quick wail of the siren and a flash of the tucked-away flashers, an accountant from the suburbs is pulled over and politely given a ticket.

New York is among 41 states that ban text messaging for all drivers and is among only 12 that prohibit using hand-held cellphones. The state this year stiffened penalties for motorists caught using hand-held devices to talk or text, increasing penalty points on the driving record from three to five, along with tickets that carry fines of up to $200.

With the tough new penalties came tougher enforcement. In a two-month crackdown this summer, troopers handed out 5,553 tickets for texting while driving, compared to 924 in the same period last year.

News from The Associated Press
Click to expand...

I think texting while driving is extremely dangerous - at the same time I don't really like the idea of all that money spent just to spy on drivers when there is real crime out there.

IMO, those who text and drive are epic morons and the cops that are driving around trolling the roads for those who text and drive are in the same boat...
 
Mr.Nick said:
I think texting while driving is extremely dangerous - at the same time I don't really like the idea of all that money spent just to spy on drivers when there is real crime out there.

IMO, those who text and drive are epic morons and the cops that are driving around trolling the roads for those who text and drive are in the same boat...
Click to expand...

I understand what you are saying, but I feel better with pill popping truck drivers than I do with texting teenagers
 
ecofarm said:
What about large groups of cars driving slower?
Click to expand...

I called bull**** the moment he started going on about radars and reflectors.
 
Rocketman said:
MOUNT PLEASANT, N.Y. (AP) -- Even for a state trooper, it's not easy to spot drivers who are texting. Their smartphones are down on their laps, not at their ears. And they're probably not moving their lips.

That's why New York has given state police 32 tall, unmarked SUVs to better peer down at drivers' hands, part of one of the nation's most aggressive attacks on texting while driving that also includes steeper penalties and dozens of highway "Texting Zones," where motorists can pull over to use their devices.

"Look at that," Trooper Clayton Howell says, pulling alongside a black BMW while patrolling the highways north of New York City. "This guy's looking down. I can see his thumb on the phone. I think we got him."

After a quick wail of the siren and a flash of the tucked-away flashers, an accountant from the suburbs is pulled over and politely given a ticket.

New York is among 41 states that ban text messaging for all drivers and is among only 12 that prohibit using hand-held cellphones. The state this year stiffened penalties for motorists caught using hand-held devices to talk or text, increasing penalty points on the driving record from three to five, along with tickets that carry fines of up to $200.

With the tough new penalties came tougher enforcement. In a two-month crackdown this summer, troopers handed out 5,553 tickets for texting while driving, compared to 924 in the same period last year.

News from The Associated Press
Click to expand...

Let's see - $50,000 x 32 divided by number of tickets = long, long, long payback for the NY Gestapo.

Morons. Obviously no comprehension of ROI.
 
SMTA said:
Let's see - $50,000 x 32 divided by number of tickets = long, long, long payback for the NY Gestapo.

Morons. Obviously no comprehension of ROI.
Click to expand...

Bet they ticket for other offenses too.
 
Rocketman said:
MOUNT PLEASANT, N.Y. (AP) -- Even for a state trooper, it's not easy to spot drivers who are texting. Their smartphones are down on their laps, not at their ears. And they're probably not moving their lips.

That's why New York has given state police 32 tall, unmarked SUVs to better peer down at drivers' hands, part of one of the nation's most aggressive attacks on texting while driving that also includes steeper penalties and dozens of highway "Texting Zones," where motorists can pull over to use their devices.

"Look at that," Trooper Clayton Howell says, pulling alongside a black BMW while patrolling the highways north of New York City. "This guy's looking down. I can see his thumb on the phone. I think we got him."

After a quick wail of the siren and a flash of the tucked-away flashers, an accountant from the suburbs is pulled over and politely given a ticket.

New York is among 41 states that ban text messaging for all drivers and is among only 12 that prohibit using hand-held cellphones. The state this year stiffened penalties for motorists caught using hand-held devices to talk or text, increasing penalty points on the driving record from three to five, along with tickets that carry fines of up to $200.

With the tough new penalties came tougher enforcement. In a two-month crackdown this summer, troopers handed out 5,553 tickets for texting while driving, compared to 924 in the same period last year.

News from The Associated Press
Click to expand...

I'm all for it. Let them be afraid...very afraid. A texting driver is worse than a drunk.
 
Rocketman said:
MOUNT PLEASANT, N.Y. (AP) -- Even for a state trooper, it's not easy to spot drivers who are texting. Their smartphones are down on their laps, not at their ears. And they're probably not moving their lips.

That's why New York has given state police 32 tall, unmarked SUVs to better peer down at drivers' hands, part of one of the nation's most aggressive attacks on texting while driving that also includes steeper penalties and dozens of highway "Texting Zones," where motorists can pull over to use their devices.

"Look at that," Trooper Clayton Howell says, pulling alongside a black BMW while patrolling the highways north of New York City. "This guy's looking down. I can see his thumb on the phone. I think we got him."

After a quick wail of the siren and a flash of the tucked-away flashers, an accountant from the suburbs is pulled over and politely given a ticket.

New York is among 41 states that ban text messaging for all drivers and is among only 12 that prohibit using hand-held cellphones. The state this year stiffened penalties for motorists caught using hand-held devices to talk or text, increasing penalty points on the driving record from three to five, along with tickets that carry fines of up to $200.

With the tough new penalties came tougher enforcement. In a two-month crackdown this summer, troopers handed out 5,553 tickets for texting while driving, compared to 924 in the same period last year.

News from The Associated Press
Click to expand...

How much money is spent buying cops these nice new "spy on you" cars?
 
clownboy said:
Bet they ticket for other offenses too.
Click to expand...

You can also bet that any other police car would be $20,000 cheaper.

My criticism stands - they have been watching too much Criminal Minds.
 
Mr.Nick said:
I think texting while driving is extremely dangerous - at the same time I don't really like the idea of all that money spent just to spy on drivers when there is real crime out there.

IMO, those who text and drive are epic morons and the cops that are driving around trolling the roads for those who text and drive are in the same boat...
Click to expand...

We have police vehicles that are designed for all sorts of specialty offence. They ticket and enforce the law even outside that specialty. And for highway patrol duty this IS "real crime". Just as speeding or reckless driving is.
 
SMTA said:
You can also bet that any other police car would be $20,000 cheaper.

My criticism stands - they have been watching too much Criminal Minds.
Click to expand...

Nope. We have specialty interceptor type vehicles for the highway patrols. They hand out tickets for other highway offenses too.
 
I don't talk on the phone or text while driving - but then basically never text anyway. BUT I learned my lesson.

Years ago (many) in my Chicago years I was driving back in a very clean, used Cadillac El Dorado I had just bought. One the phone with my daughter who had been grumbling about the couple days we didn't have a car due to the one we had throwing a motor rod.

So I was on the phone and the conversation when word for word like this: "Everything's fine now. This is a beautiful car that will - oh ****!" - as I slammed into a truck that suddenly stopped in front of me and I too distracted for the two second difference between stopping in time - so slammed into the back of a pickup truck - and a truck then slammed into the back of me. Totaled that Caddy less than 30 minutes after I bought it. No insurance either.

Anyway, I don't talk or text while driving ever since.
 
Ikari said:
How much money is spent buying cops these nice new "spy on you" cars?
Click to expand...

they probably already had them in the state pool
 
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