Checking Your Phone at a Stoplight
Texting and driving, or distracted driving, has become an unsafe norm in society. Imagine you’re stuck at a traffic light, and reach for your phone to check text messages. You take a quick glance up to make sure the signal hasn’t changed, and you notice a homeless man on the corner holding up a sign. You’ve seen plenty of people on the side of the road asking for money, so you pay no attention and scroll through your Facebook feed.
You Think Nobody Saw You, But…
The signal finally turns green and you leave the intersection. Immediately after, you hear the heart dropping sound of a police siren. The rear-view mirror is flooded with red and blue lights as the shadowy figure of a police officer motions for you to pull to the side of the road. The police officer writes you a ticket for texting and driving; You are upset at getting a ticket, but mostly you are confused as to how you were caught in the first place.
Cops are Hitting the Streets to Catch Texting and Driving Violators
https://twitter.com/WTOP/status/659059721308143616
Undercover police officers dressed as homeless people are out in the open looking into cars to see if drivers are texting while driving. Law enforcement is cracking down on people who use their phone while driving and found a creative way to catch them with red thumbs. Once they see someone using their phone they radio ahead to a uniformed officer to stop them. It is an out of the box idea that hopes to prevent drivers from using their phones on the road.
A Distracted Driver is a Deadly Driver
Texting and driving in America has become an epidemic that kills nine Americans every day. A person texting and driving is 23 times more likely to cause an accident. Someone talking on their phone while driving can is 4 times more likely to cause an accident.
Put Your Phone Down, it’s the Law
This new police tactic was put in motion last fall. The tactic’s success has spread across states with laws prohibiting the use of cellphones while driving. The next time you see a homeless man with a sign across his chest, he might have a badge under his muddy trench coat.