[Spidey]

Originally Posted by sebberry

The former because in that case the onus is on the officer to prove that the action was actually creating a significant enough of a distraction to cause a problem.

This would avoid the bogus tickets that are handed out for moving your phone while stopped at a light or punching an address into the GPS.

I don't think for one moment that it's acceptable for drivers to be yapping on the phone, typing an email, etc... while *operating a moving vehicle*. But right on cue you bring up extreme cases like brain splatter to justify enforcement action against trivial acts such as moving a phone off a pile of coins or keys in the cup holder because it's rattling and making noise.

People getting warnings and fines because they're trying to recover their wallet before it disappears out of reach between the seat and console or changing the station on an aftermarket head unit are just a couple of perfect examples of how the police are taking the spirit of these regs too far.

Futzing around with stuff while operating a moving vehicle = dangerous.
Moving something (Christ, not even USING it, just moving it) while stopped =/= dangerous.

Oh, the next time I see something that is worthy of calling the police I'll just ignore it. After all, the police say I should leave my phone out of reach in the trunk because I'm somehow incapable of making appropriate judgement calls regarding its use.

You know how when a police officer does something highly questionable in the public's eyes and you say that we shouldn't paint all cops with the same brush, that there are many good, honest officers, etc...? Well, do us a favor.. don't paint all drivers with the same brush.

we don't paint all drivers with the same brush.. how many people are let off with warnings in a given day? probably more people than ones that receive tickets... you just don't hear about those because you only hear about people who bitch and complain that they were "unjustly" given a ticket.