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  • Peeping CHP Officers



    CHP plans 24-hour crackdown on drivers using cellphones

    By Tony Bizjak
    tbizjak@sacbee.com

    Cellphone talkers and texters, beware. California Highway Patrol officers around Sacramento have special marching orders on Friday and Saturday:

    Find you and ticket you.

    "If someone is driving distracted, we want officers to issue citations," said CHP spokesman Adrian Quintero.

    Also on Friday, plainclothes officers and volunteers with clipboards will be stationed on foot at several major intersections around Sacramento, peering into passing car windows and noting the types of distracted driving they see.

    Similar tallies will be taken in the Auburn and Stockton areas. They won't be ticketing. They'll be gathering data to be forwarded to the California Office of Traffic Safety as part of an emerging statewide campaign to understand and combat distracted driving.

    Troubled by drivers who continue to talk and text on cellphones despite new laws prohibiting it, safety officials say they hope educational messages and some old-fashioned ticket writing will help change people's driving habits.

    CHP officials, who conducted a similar crackdown statewide in April, admit to some frustration. "It is pretty blatant now," Quintero said of drivers ignoring the law. "It is kind of scary as well, having our families out on the road."

    It's against the law in California to talk on a handheld cellphone, and to write, send or read text-based communications on a cell- or smartphone or other electronic wireless device while driving. Violators face a $166 fine.

    The California law on handheld cellphones, one of the first in the nation, went into effect in 2008. The ban on texting followed in 2009. Since then, the CHP has issued about 500,000 cellphone tickets, but only 12,000 texting tickets. Officials say texting is harder to detect.

    Earlier this month, the National Transportation Safety Board called for a nationwide ban on the use of all cellphones, including those that are hands-free, while driving. The author of California's handheld cellphone ban, Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, said he believes a hands-free ban is unlikely to win approval in the Legislature and that he doesn't plan to introduce a bill on the subject.

    Law enforcement officials say their concern about distracted driving extends beyond cellphones. They point out that during Friday's crackdown, drivers who are observed eating food or reading a newspaper, for instance, can be cited if that activity affects their ability to safely operate a vehicle.

    "The car is supposed to get you from point A to B, not to be used as your bathroom for shaving or putting on makeup. That's ridiculous," Quintero said.

    The zero tolerance period will run for 24 hours, from 6 a.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday.

    In the coming months, the CHP also plans to focus distracted-driving enforcement on streets around some local high schools.

    State officials say they do not have sufficient data to know how many crashes are caused by drivers using cellphones. CHP data indicate inattentive driving contributed to the deaths of 217 people in 2009 and 2010, about 4 percent of roadway fatalities. But safety officials say the number may be much higher. Extrapolations from a federal highway safety analysis suggest as many as 18 percent of traffic deaths could be related to driver inattentiveness or distractions.

    Drunken driving still accounts for the highest percentage of California roadway fatalities, at 29 percent. Notably, though, 20 percent of California drivers in a recent survey said they believe cellphone use is the biggest safety problem on the road. Eighteen percent listed texting as the worst risk, 17 percent said speeding and aggressive driving, and 13 percent cited drunken driving.

    Officials with the state traffic safety office, which did the survey, said they're pleased drivers recognize cellphone conversations as a serious driving distraction.

    "Distracted driving is something we want to curb early, so it doesn't become entrenched," state traffic safety spokesman Chris Cochran said.

  • #2
    Originally posted by SMKR View Post
    http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/28/414...ckdown-on.html

    CHP plans 24-hour crackdown on drivers using cellphones


    Also on Friday, plainclothes officers and volunteers with clipboards will be stationed on foot at several major intersections around Sacramento, peering into passing car windows and noting the types of distracted driving they see.
    Damn. They need to just secede from the union and just come to terms with the socialist state that they've become.

    Some beautiful locales in Cali, but wouldn't want to live there. Not just because of their politics, but price per sq. ft. on homes is insane. And they are unbelievable upside down fiscally.

    Comment


    • #3
      More revenue generation. It has nothing to do with protecting anyone.
      In a free society, government has the duty to protect us from others and not from ourselves.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by davbrucas View Post
        More revenue generation. It has nothing to do with protecting anyone.
        In a free society, government has the duty to protect us from others and not from ourselves.
        I feel safer knowing I was protected from a texting soccer mom!

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by juiceweezl View Post
          I feel safer knowing I was protected from a texting soccer mom!
          LoL...but the government knows best!!

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by davbrucas View Post
            LoL...but the government knows best!!
            Of course they do! Hell, why not trust those that pay $400 for a toilet seat or $20K for a weekend rental home for the secret service?

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by juiceweezl View Post
              Of course they do! Hell, why not trust those that pay $400 for a toilet seat or $20K for a weekend rental home for the secret service?
              They have our best interests at heart...they know what's best for us.

              I am beginning to understand the feelings that the early Americans had for England. It's quite frustrating...revolution is out of the question. The people of this country would never rise up because as long as they have their Starbucks, American Idol and SUVs, they will roll over and let the govt jack them for every liberty they once had.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by davbrucas View Post
                They have our best interests at heart...they know what's best for us.

                I am beginning to understand the feelings that the early Americans had for England. It's quite frustrating...revolution is out of the question. The people of this country would never rise up because as long as they have their Starbucks, American Idol and SUVs, they will roll over and let the govt jack them for every liberty they once had.
                Maybe that's why I hate the gov't. I don't drink coffee; I don't watch reality TV; I don't drive an SUV. I do however have a surplus of firearms, ammunition, and hatred for socialism, err, over zealous government. Anyone want to join me...for a cup of tea?

                Comment


                • #9
                  Sure!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by juiceweezl View Post
                    Maybe that's why I hate the gov't. I don't drink coffee; I don't watch reality TV; I don't drive an SUV. I do however have a surplus of firearms, ammunition, and hatred for socialism, err, over zealous government. Anyone want to join me...for a cup of tea?
                    As long as it's not Earl Gray.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Since it is "zero tolerance" maybe the CHP assholes will write each other tickets for playing with their computers and radios while going down the road.
                      Originally posted by racrguy
                      What's your beef with NPR, because their listeners are typically more informed than others?
                      Originally posted by racrguy
                      Voting is a constitutional right, overthrowing the government isn't.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Broncojohnny View Post
                        Since it is "zero tolerance" maybe the CHP assholes will write each other tickets for playing with their computers and radios while going down the road.
                        but they have special training!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by davbrucas View Post
                          More revenue generation. It has nothing to do with protecting anyone.
                          In a free society, government has the duty to protect us from others and not from ourselves.

                          We are the "others".

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by juiceweezl View Post
                            Maybe that's why I hate the gov't. I don't drink coffee; I don't watch reality TV; I don't drive an SUV. I do however have a surplus of firearms, ammunition, and hatred for socialism, err, over zealous government. Anyone want to join me...for a cup of tea?

                            In!

                            And the Doc is correct, it's really not an option.
                            www.allforoneroofing.com

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by 03trubluGT View Post
                              We are the "others".
                              No, you are the government.

                              Comment

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