(Newswire.net — November 3, 2014) — Texting is among the most dangerous forms of distracted driving, however, there are lots of drivers who think that they are too good and safe behind a wheel. Texting while driving is illegal in most states but it is difficult for highway patrol to spot if someone texts from behind a wheel.
“If a person is hiding their electronic device in their lap or other less than obvious place it can be hard for an officer to observe them texting,” says Technical Sergeant James Cleary, spokesperson for the New York State Police.
According to Insurance.com, however, there is a six 6 ways the cops know you’re texting.
1. The panhandler on the corner, at least if you live in Canada.
Canadian cops often dress up as panhandlers in order to get up close to inspect drivers. Drivers who are texting while waiting traffic light to go green, might get the ticket from panhandler-looking cop.
2. Elevated vehicle or the truck in the next lane
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo spent $1 million on elevated Chevy Tahoes for the police because they give officers a bird’s-eye view of a driver’s hands. That move raised the amount of issued distracted driving tickets to 5,553 within a two months, from 924 in the same period last year.
Cops in Tennessee are going even higher, cruising 18-wheelers to peer into passenger cars, however, they only spot the offenders and report them to a patrol that does the ticketing.
3. The spotter on the overpass
An overpass is the perfect vantage point for police to spot a driver who text messages. Intersections, stop signs and stoplights are common stalking grounds, according to Insurance.com, when the officer observes a violation, he radios waiting officers who issue the citation. Spotters can clearly describe not only details of the car and drivers, also the model and color of the phone, even in which hand drivers were holding it in.
4. Your own cellphone records
If the police believe texting led to an accident, they will check your phone records, trooper Jeff Petucci of the Pennsylvania State Police told CentralPa.com.
“It’s not an automatic thing, but at the same time if it’s a crash that causes serious injury and death we’re going to look at that angle if someone has been texting and driving,” Petucci says.
5. You, staring at your own lap
According to Omar Jaleel, an attorney in Oak Brook, Illinois, behavior of an driver can lead to a ticket. Officers are trained to recognize head and face characteristic movement of those who are texting messages from behind the wheel.
6. The texting detector
This is not yet a meter of reality, but the police soon may have a new tool that can detect if drivers were texting when they shouldn’t have been. A new radar gun-like device developed in a Virginia based company ComSonics could, not only detect radio waves from the cellphone, but also could distinguished calls from texting.
The detector is still in the early phase of development process and how soon the gun will be in the hands of police officers is anyone’s guess, yet it can become reality sooner than we think.