Jul 1, 2009 6:52 pm US/Pacific
Bay Area Cell Phone Scofflaws Ringing Up Big Fines
SAN JOSE (CBS 5) ―
-
-
A driver talks on the phone using a hands-free device.
CBS
Poll
How often do you break the law and talk on a hand-held phone while driving?
You need the latest Flash player to view our Poll.
Click here to download.
Click here to
bypass this detection if you already
have the latest Flash Player.
CBS 5 rode along with California Highway Patrol officer Thomas Bowen, who quickly spotted a man holding a phone to his ear while driving. That's illegal.
It turns out, it's not the first time this driver has been busted.
"I've had three," driver Tim Moran of San Jose said. "I'm a slow learner. It's getting pretty expensive."
Over the past year, the CHP has handed out more than 100,000 citations for using a handheld phone behind the wheel. In May, they issued 60 percent more tickets than they did last July.
CBS 5 checked with various Bay Area agencies and found plenty of people are ignoring the law.
In Walnut Creek, there have been 850 citations since the law's been in effect; in Livermore, 784. The numbers are especially high in the South Bay: Santa Clara had 952, while San Jose had a whopping 3400.
"I think now people are starting to forget. The cell phone rings, they don't even think. They just pick it up and start talking," said Officer Bowen, who has seen it all.
"I'll be able to pick someone out on their cell phone even before I get to see them on their phone because their car isn't maintaining a straight path in its lane," he explained. "A few people will try to say it was an emergency. At that point, I'll ask them if I can see the phone and see if it was a 911 call."
During the ride along, the officer encountered a woman who claimed she was holding her bluetooth device, not her phone, to her ear, even though the phone was still in her hand.
She didn't like the ticket or the CBS 5 camera.
The ticket will hit you hard in the wallet. The first ticket costs around $125. After that, if you keep holding the phone up to your ear while driving, each additional ticket costs even more.
The costs vary, depending on where you get cited.
In Santa Clara County, for example, bail and various fees add up to $221 for each ticket after your first citation.
For Moran, it was more.
"The last one was $256," he remembered, and that was just three weeks ago.
The CHP doesn't know how many accidents are caused by cell phone use. But officers said less time on the phone means more time focusing on the road, and that's good for all drivers.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Check out the CHP statistics on cell phone & texting citations.
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments