Driving while on cell phone merits a stop and a fine
CHP Officer Theresa Simmons issues a citation to a driver along Santa Rosa's Yolanda Avenue for allegedly driving while talking on a hand-held cell phone Tuesday,
CHRISTOPHER CHUNG/THE PRESS DEMOCRATPublished: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 6:26 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 9:52 p.m.
The temptation is great: When the phone rings, answer.
But for drivers, that simple reflex can lead to dangerous behavior on the road.
Force-of-habit triumphed over what 36-year-old Heather Gregory said she knew was dangerous and against the law. Around lunchtime Tuesday, the mother of two from Santa Rosa exited Highway 101 and headed into a Santa Rosa Plaza parking lot.
“Somebody called, I answered on speaker phone,” said Gregory, who was pulled over by the CHP in the parking lot. “And like a dodo I didn't put it down onto my lap.”
Gregory was among drivers across the Bay Area spotted on their phones by CHP officers during the agency's two-day campaign to curb illegal cell phone use in vehicles. Law enforcement officers across Sonoma County joined the CHP in seeking out and citing drivers violating the ban.
“I see it all the time,” said Sebastopol acting police Lt. James Conner. “Distracted driving is really a dangerous thing. Some people will not, for any cause, take it seriously.”
Studies on driving safety suggest they should.
Holding a cell phone was a factor in 1,060 collisions in California in 2008, according to a CHP report. Eleven people died in those crashes.
Drivers holding electronic devices, including cell phones, are four times as likely to be involved in an injury crash than other drivers, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety researchers found.
It's a message CHP Officer Theresa Simmons tried to hit home Tuesday for drivers along Santa Rosa Avenue.
“If you're having a conversation with a person who is in the car, if there's traffic stopped up ahead, you'll probably be quiet,” as the driver navigates the road, Simmons said. “It's so much more distracting if the person is on the phone and they can't see what's going on.”
The driver of a silver Dodge pickup heading south on Santa Rosa Avenue Tuesday afternoon yakked away into a cell phone he held up to his ear.
Officer Simmons pulled her patrol car up behind him.
“Oh, he just put it down,” Simmons said, turned on the lights and followed the man onto Yolanda Avenue.
The Sonoma resident was holding a citizens band radio when Simmons walked up to the driver's window.
“I watched you for a several seconds holding it up to your left ear and talking,” Simmons said. “Then I saw you drop it when you saw me.”
Simmons cited him for the violation. The man, who declined to be interviewed, told Simmons his Bluetooth device was broken and he had to use the phone in his pickup to make calls for his pool business, she said.
A ticket for a person's first offense is $20 and subsequent tickets are $50. But that's just a base fine. After all of the various court, state and county fees are tacked on, that first ticket costs $142 and subsequent tickets $256. Pending legislation would boost the base fine of the first ticket to $50 and subsequent tickets to $100.
The law, which went into effect July 1, 2008, bans holding a cell phone while talking. Drivers can use a hands-free device, but the device can't cover both ears. Reading, writing or sending text messages was banned by another law that went into effect Jan. 1, 2009.
Law enforcement officials report mixed results since the law went into effect.
“Most people hold it in their right hand now, instead of their left hand,” Sloat said. “They think we can't see it as clearly.”
CHP officers issue about 100 tickets each month for cell phone violations in the Sonoma County area, Sloat said. That's about the same number they were writing when the law first changed, though exact numbers weren't available Tuesday, he said.
“It got a lot better when the law first went into effect,” said Sgt. Doug Schlief, Santa Rosa traffic sergeant. “We noticed a significant decrease in cellular use while driving.”
Santa Rosa police officers issued 4,746 tickets for cell phone violations from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010, Schlief said. Officers gave out 469 tickets in Rohnert Park, 156 in Sebastopol, 138 in Healdsburg during that time, officials said.
Sheriff's deputies, including Windsor and Sonoma police, gave out 193 tickets to drivers for cell phone use from Aug. 10, 2009 to Aug. 10, 2010.
Down Santa Rosa Avenue, Simmons spotted a young man driving a sparkling clean Dodge cruiser holding a phone to his left ear.
“The reason I pulled you over is the cell phone,” Simmons told the young man.
The Rohnert Park man told her he was talking to his boss. She recommended he buy a hands-free device.
“At least this time I got a, ‘Thank you' and a ‘Nice car,'” Simmons said.
The next special enforcement day will be Aug. 18.
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