Texting While Driving in California is Illegal, But Nobody Seems to Know Exactly Where the Law Starts and Using Your Phone to Make a Call Begins

By Dennis Romero Wed., Apr. 20 2011 at 3:34 PM

Categories: Law

amber 10

Don't do this. You could be pulled over.

When it is okay for drivers to punch in characters -- dial a phone number, say -- now that texting behind the wheel is illegal in California, which still happens to be the texting-while-driving capital of the nation?

No one seems to know. And that, in our view, only gives police more authority to pull you over and play judge-and-jury.

Experts, including a California Highway Patrol official, couldn't come up with cut-and-dried answers to questions about when it's okay to use a smartphone while driving. Here's what the CHP's Steve Creel told the Mercury News:

When you look for loopholes, the whole issue of cellphone use, texting or distracted driving becomes confusing, if not overwhelming.

Say a cop stops you for texting and driving. How does she know you weren't dialing a number -- which is legal. She doesn't. That's what makes this law a farce. You shouldn't have been pulled over if there was any question about your behavior (yeah, yeah, tell it the judge).

The Mercury News:

... It's legal to read, select and enter a phone number while driving -- as long as you put the phone down before talking ...

That pretty much covers everything you could have been doing, right? And no cop would really know otherwise.

And, uh, you can't have your phone in your hand to use its GPS/map function. (Again, no one outside your car would know you're not starting a call, however).

San Jose State professor John Clapp: " I think it must be a poorly written law. I think we should be able to do better."

Tags:

California, CHP, driving, law, police, smartphones, texting, texting while driving

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ErikWood

I think legislation has value in raising public awareness in forums like this one but it will be difficult to solely legislate our way out of this issue. I just read that 72% of teens text daily - many text more 4000 times a month. New college students no longer have email addresses! They use texting and Facebook - even with their professors. This text and drive issue is in its infancy and its not going away.

I decided to do something about distracted driving after my three year old daughter was nearly run down right in front of me by a texting driver. Instead of a shackle that locks down phones and alienates the user (especially teens) I built a tool called OTTER that is a simple GPS based, texting auto reply app for smartphones. It also silences call ringtones while driving unless you have a bluetooth enabled. I think if we can empower the individual then change will come to our highways now and not just our laws.

Erik Wood, ownerOTTER LLCOTTER app

sanfranchristo

@ Erfan, to the contrary -- there is at least one study that suggested texting bans were actually responsible for more accidents, as drivers held the the phones lower or in their lap to hide them, thus requiring them to look down and away from the road more. I am still ready to believe that not texting or using your free hands or vision to do anything but drive is theoretically much safer, but until putting on makeup, eating/smoking, reading (yes, people read books on the highway!), driving with a dog on your lap, or turning around to deal with children are banned, texting is somewhat of a red herring.

Erfan

In some sense, this is pretty standard. The legislature attempts to prohibit a specific behavior, but the language always keeps it far to ambiguous. Personally, I believe individuals should be allowed to use smart-phones while driving. From talking to texting, the whole law is a sham. Do you know of any conclusive studies that show a clear justification for stopping the public for engaging in this activity while driving?

offramp

Erfan, there are plenty of them, from reputable researchers like the Univ. of Virginia Tech Center and Univ. of Utah, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, to name three out of about a dozen. The studies show that you CAN"T do two things at once safely.