Nine months after a new texting while driving law took effect in Tennessee, the law has netted few citations. The law, which took effect on July 1, 2009, makes it illegal for the person behind the wheel of a car in motion to read or send text messages while driving. It’s aimed at catching drivers looking down, versus watching the road
Since January of this year, troopers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol have issued 47 tickets statewide, Tennessee Department of Safety Public Affairs Director Mike Browning said. According to Browning, there were few, if any tickets written before the first of the year.
"It is a challenge to enforce," Browning said. "(Troopers) have to be careful that it's clearly happening. The law permits you to dial on a cell phone. The (number of citations) will continue to grow as the law gets more recognition."
Since the law took effect, Johnson City police have issued four citations, while officers in Kingsport have written one.
"Sometimes it's hard to distinguish if they're texting or if they're calling a telephone number," JCPD Sgt. Scotty Carrier said. "If we're going to stop someone for a violation of some sort, in our mind, we want to be clear that they're guilty."
According to Sgt. Carrier, from the beginning, police suspected the law would be difficult to enforce, but that doesn’t mean officers are not enforcing the law. People who end up in accidents due to texting need to be especially concerned, Sgt. Carrier said.
“If somebody is killed in a car wreck as a result of somebody texting, we're going to subpoena the records,” Carried said. “We're going to go back and take a look at that and if you were texting, then their can be some enhancement that can occur, because now you're looking at careless behavior.”
Texting while driving tickets are considered non-moving violations, which means violators do not receive any points on their driver's record. However, people who break the law do have to pay a maximum fine of $50. To prevent accidents and avoid that fine turning into a more serious sentence, police urge people to make their jobs easier by just following the law.
"I'm willing to surmise that most texts are non-emergencies," Carrier said. "If a true emergency comes up, if I have an emergency or something, I'm going to make a phone call, I'm not going to send somebody a text."
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