Texting while driving has been banned in Oklahoma for two weeks, but that isn’t necessarily equating to a flood of citations caused by motorists playing on their cellphones caught unaware or undeterred by the new law.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol issued 56 citations statewide under the new law through Thursday, according to Capt. Paul Timmons. He said what could be considered a low number of tickets may be an indicator that drivers are on their best behavior and obeying the law, given the media attention to the issue.
Meanwhile, a Tulsa police corporal in one of the city’s three traffic divisions said he isn’t aware of a single citation handed out by an officer in his area related to difficulties in proving a motorist was texting and not dialing.
Oklahoma became the 46th state to ban texting while driving when the legislation took effect Nov. 1, carrying a $100 fine.
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The measure prohibits driving a vehicle on a street or highway “while using a hand-held electronic communication device to manually compose, send or read an electronic text message while the motor vehicle is in motion.” Exceptions allow for emergency communications, such as law enforcement or medical, or while the vehicle is stopped.
However, questions linger about enforcement of the law.
Tulsa Police Cpl. Steve Wood of the Riverside Division’s traffic unit said that while he supports the ban, he isn’t sure how effective it will be. In fact, he said, officers recently were asked to submit ticket numbers, and he wasn’t aware of anyone in his division who had written a citation for texting while driving.
“Here’s the challenge — texting and driving is illegal. Dialing and driving is not,” Wood said. “So when driving and I see you on the phone, I don’t know if you’re dialing or texting, and I don’t have a way to prove it one way or another.”
Wood explained that if you want to check a motorist’s phone during a stop you need either consent from the driver or, if they refuse, a search warrant. Search warrants take time, and you need to find a judge, Wood said. If you simply ask the driver and they respond, “Yes, I was texting while driving,” Wood said they could show up in court and change their answer to “No.”
“I wouldn’t have anything one way or the other to prove otherwise,” Wood said.
That explanation isn’t meant to minimize the dangers of texting behind the wheel, Wood said, calling the action “extremely dangerous.”
An average person looks at his or her phone for five seconds when texting, he said. That equates to driving 100 yards without looking where you’re going at 40 mph on arterial streets, he said, and 200 yards while driving 75 mph on a highway.
“For me personally, I hate seeing all of these different ordinances that all boil down to one thing — paying attention,” Wood said. “We really just need an ordinance that says you need to pay attention.”
An interesting approach to enforcement of the law was carried out in a joint effort between the Highway Patrol and Calera Police. OHP Lt. John Vincent said a school bus was used to drive up and down roads to check for motorists texting while driving. Outside of that effort, Vincent said, troopers haven’t engaged in any special enforcement of the law.
But Vincent noted inventive enforcement techniques or unmarked vehicles aren’t even necessarily needed. The inattention to surroundings created by texting behind the wheel sometimes allows a marked cruiser to sidle up unseen next to the offender, he said.
“Believe it or not, you can pull up next to people because they aren’t paying attention because they are focused on their cellphone,” Vincent said.
Vincent said there are several indicators troopers use to spot potential texters behind the wheel, which also happen to be indicators of driving under the influence. He said crossing center lines, going in between lanes, and driving too slowly or erratically are signs a driver might be texting or under the influence.
Vincent said he hasn’t heard troopers report any backlash of motorists upset about enforcement of the law. But people have approached troopers to say they feel safer on the roads because they don’t see as many people texting and driving, he said.
“Hopefully a lot of people have taken the new law as serious and are abiding by it,” Vincent said.
