Their full-size truck is outfitted with a blue light bar and Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) decals. Yet many passing motorists continue to text and drive, apparently unaware of the uniformed trooper peering down from the cab.
“Folks aren’t looking for rigs like this, that belong to us, that are used for these enforcement initiatives,” said THP Sgt. Josh Brown.
The truck’s high vantage point allows troopers to spot drivers who keep their phones below window level. When they spot a violator, they radio a description of the vehicle to troopers in conventional police cars to make a traffic stop.
“It seems like people have the attitude, ‘Everybody does it. And this one time isn’t gonna matter,’” Sgt. Brown said. “Unfortunately, many times those distractions do end up in crashes.”
Distracted driving, including texting and cell phone use, plays a role in 26 percent of traffic fatalities, ranking just behind speeding (30 percent) and alcohol use (31 percent), according to data compiled by the National Safety Council (NSC), a nonprofit public interest group chartered by Congress.
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11 comments:
wow if they could just put that much effort into catching real criminals.
I bet they are making a ton of money off of that! I commute 500 miles a week and I see it ALL the time. The law makes no difference to people with cell phones. But fines do. Enforcement may not stop everybody, but after a few citations, most people will get the message and put the phone down, and keep it down until they have pulled off the roadway. Too bad that that is what it takes.
When you see someone coming at you on your side of the road, they are always looking at their lap. It used to be the occasional drunk that was coming at you, now its perfectly sober people that just don't care to pay attention while driving. Making texting illegal made the whole situation worse. Before all the laws were passed, those who texted while driving would keep the phone in their line of view with the highway. Now they put it down, out of sight, and have to take their eyes completely off the highway to avoid detection. This is a case where the law had unintended consequences and made the highways more dangerous.
I see people everyday texting going down the road in my car. You need a 18 wheeler?? WOW. No wonder Tennessee is going to hell in a basket.
Our police these days spend the majority of their time looking to write tickets for revenue than fighting crime. Not that it's their fault it's what they're told to do. But it's a form of oppression.
Stupid highway robbery is what it is.
Making texting while driving illegal is stupid!
They use the $$$ gas for the truck.
12:17 until someone in your family is killed in an incident because the other driver is texting and drives crosses into the path of your family member or your child becomes a paraplegic in an accident that was caused by distracted driving. Get real.
Anonymous said...
12:17 until someone in your family is killed in an incident because the other driver is texting and drives crosses into the path of your family member or your child becomes a paraplegic in an accident that was caused by distracted driving. Get real.
September 5, 2015 at 1:18 PM
Agreed. I have two kids that are constantly consumed with their smart phones and that is their age group as well as older generations. I pray that when they start driving that the phone stays off. Texting is worse than drunk driving because more people do it daily.
You have middle school kids texting and walking in to each other. It's obvious what will happen when they drive.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
12:17 until someone in your family is killed in an incident because the other driver is texting and drives crosses into the path of your family member or your child becomes a paraplegic in an accident that was caused by distracted driving. Get real.
September 5, 2015 at 1:18 PM
oh bs. just scare tactics. I don't live my life on what if's. the same ones writing tickets do the same things they write tickets for.
So, the people eating while driving, fiddling with the stereo, reading the newspaper, applying makeup, and all the rest are okay.
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