You'll take it from my cold dead fingers!

[Streakn1]

Got stopped by Porky Yorkshire of the Alabama clan the other day. Here's how it went:
PY: Driver, give me your cell phone.
DR: I beg your pardon sir?
PY: Driver, cell phone NOW!!!
DR: Why do you need to see my cell phone?
PY: To see if you've been texting or talking while behind the wheel.
DR: I have not sir,anyway its my wife's phone and she's in the
in the sleeper.
PY: I DON"T CARE! PHONE NOW!!!
DR: Sir, did you observe me talking or texting?
PY: Doesn't matter. If theres any calls received or texting while
you were driving, your getting a ticket!!!
DR: But sir, what if my wife was the one using her phone not
me?
PY: Doesn't matter. Phone's within your reach so I'm to assume
you were the one using it. Hand it over now!
DR: No sir. Wife's phone. She's in the sleeper and I'm not waking
her up for this, nor are you. Get a warrant if you feel the need.
PY: Driver, I can make your life miserable if I choose.
DR: Yes you can, as I can take you to court. You have just
made an unwarranted threat of which my wife whom is
prior law enforcement just witnessed from our sleeper.
How much longer do you plain to detain us sir?
PY: Get the Hell out of here driver.

Grow some b*##s drivers and stop this abuse from ignorant porkchops in patrol cars. THIS IS WHAT THE NEW CELL PHONE LAWS GETS US!

 

[Streakn1]

So, if I had without resistance handed over the phone that was on the desk behind my driver's seat, yet within arms reach (if I contorted myself to reach behind me), how many of you believe I would or would not have been ticketed for the five text on the phone during my driving time on the log? Even though I wasn't the one texting.

 

[layoutshooter]

I hope you got his name and badge number.

Be sure to pass this along to you senators, representative and lawyer.

 

[tenntrucker]

Just say NO! Good for you standing up for yourself!

Sent from my DROID X2

 

[tknight]

One word, "delete" every morning........................start fresh, and if you get a text while driving, just don't read it till ya stop, no officer is going to scrutinize every moment of your driving time, unless you really **** them off, ( I hope) I use text to voice app, it works, sometimes stuff translates funny though

 

[Streakn1]

no officer is going to scrutinize every moment of your driving time, unless you really **** them off

Wait folks! Incoming message from above:
[Deep heavenly voice] Hey Streak, Ya think maybe they're still peeved at ya for the time you wouldn't come out of the sleeper to say "Howdy Pardner" when ya'll got stopped for the burned out headlight? And Streak, for gods sake put your clothes back on boy! This ain't the 70's anymore. Stop streak'n around. You're making people blush!"

Well I'll be a ....

 

[Jefferson3000]

I was surprised at how many people on here thought it no big deal to have this kind of violation of liberty passed, simply because they thought it was a decent law and they already used a headset. It's a slippery slope that has no business on the books.

 

[RLENT]

Absolutely disgusting - good for you (and for us - thanks)

It's a slippery slope that has no business on the books.

The sad reality of our present situation as a nation is that we have so many slippery slopes goin' on, that just taking a step in any direction is likely to result in the implacable wrath of The State being unleashed.

It's gotta stop.

 

[dieseldiva]

I was surprised at how many people on here thought it no big deal to have this kind of violation of liberty passed, simply because they thought it was a decent law and they already used a headset. It's a slippery slope that has no business on the books.

Who's liberty? Mine or the person that gets killed/maimed because I'm not honest enough with myself to admit that I sometimes have a hard time juggling phone with driving?

I say that because I can see the changes on the road since we've been expediting. When we first started, if we saw a weaving car, we thought drunk driver, if we saw a weaving truck, we thought sleepy driver. Those thoughts are rarely there these days, most of the weaving vehicles (both cars and trucks) are doing so because the driver is on the phone.

Now, when you compare the two that way, the idea of losing another liberty looks a little different. If I have the right to talk on the phone and cause an accident, why can't I also drink and drive? If the vehicles behind me see no difference in the way I drive with the two, why not?

My outrage comes more from the truck drivers being held to a higher standard than the four wheelers. We jump through more safety hoops to keep our CDL's and yet we're the only ones being restricted. You have only to look around out on the road to see the high percentage of cars being driven by people while talking on their phone. We yell at them every day because they're impaired while merging, changing lanes, pulling out in front of us, etc.

Something else that comes to mind concerning an officer checking my phone to see if texting and talking times match my log book/eobr. Hypothetically speaking, couldn't you pull over for a few minutes to make a phone call and legally NOT log that because it's less than 15 min.? Having the EOBR, I realize that it would show on that but not everyone has that device for proof.

What if I have no bluetooth device in the truck? Does that mean the phone has to be in the sleeper?

Lots of questions that will probably go unanswered while every DOT officer and highway patrolman out there attempt to interpret this law for themselves.

 

[cheri1122]

Except the outrageous stuff comes at us so fast & furious, we barely have time to register it [much less determine how bad it may be] before the next juggernaut hurtles onto the horizon....
My plan on the cellphone is to toss it into the sleeper [out of arm's reach] if stopped.
Not because I'm guilty of wrongdoing [I'm not], but because they have no right to assume I am.

 

[dieseldiva]

Except the outrageous stuff comes at us so fast & furious, we barely have time to register it [much less determine how bad it may be] before the next juggernaut hurtles onto the horizon....
My plan on the cellphone is to toss it into the sleeper [out of arm's reach] if stopped.
Not because I'm guilty of wrongdoing [I'm not], but because they have no right to assume I am.

I agree and I don't understand why these guys are getting the attitude already.

 

[dieseldiva]

Ooops, just thought of something else. If they're going to check our phones for activity during our driving time, rather than stop us only if they catch us with phone to ear, there's nothing on the phone to indicate that I was or wasn't using a blue tooth device.....................

 

[cheri1122]

I agree and I don't understand why these guys are getting the attitude already.

Maybe because we know the overwhelming majority of truck vs car accidents are caused by the car driver, and the number 1 distraction to a driver is talking to a passenger, the number 2 cause is eating/drinking, and cellphones are a distant 3rd - so why attack the problem by restricting cellphones for truck drivers?
Because they can.
That's bad enough, but when they start actively trying to 'prove' a truck driver violated the law, [with zero reason to think so] they have gone beyond too far.

 

[davekc]

I agree and I don't understand why these guys are getting the attitude already.

It is all about the money.

 

[Doggie Daddy]

Got stopped by Porky Yorkshire of the Alabama clan the other day. Here's how it went:


Grow some b*##s drivers and stop this abuse from ignorant porkchops in patrol cars. THIS IS WHAT THE NEW CELL PHONE LAWS GETS US!

I gotta admit that I'm on your side on this issue Streakin, I just don't agree with the pig references.

I realize that there are many LEO's out there that have no business wearing the badge, but the majority of them are professionals doing a tough job and don't deserve this kind of disrespect.

 

[beachbum]

It's funny I can listen to my text and with blue tooth I can make and receive calls. Is Al a state with no talking on a hand held cell phone, if not the new rule doesn't come into affect tell Jan 3 2012.

 

[Jefferson3000]

Ooops, just thought of something else. If they're going to check our phones for activity during our driving time, rather than stop us only if they catch us with phone to ear, there's nothing on the phone to indicate that I was or wasn't using a blue tooth device.....................

Of course. That's why I commented. We think we will somehow be exempt, just because we use a headset.

But yes, I still hold that it is a violation of our liberty, because it is merely aimed at one sector of the community. TRUCKERS. My right to use a handheld phone certainly ends when someone else's bumper begins. However, no amount of laws are going to stop accidents on the road. We are already more regulated than commercial airline pilots.

 

[greg334]

I'm wondering is the OOIDA will also sue over this issue, seeing they sued over the Minnesota check list. It only makes sense that the abuse of rights would trigger something a bit more important then fighting for farmers right to drive their trucks without proper training - which by the way it is odd that we consider weaving trucks a sign of something other than poor maintaince and driving skills.

As Cheri said - just throw it in the sleeper.

 

[jjoerger]

We had a Level 1 in Kentucky last week. No mention was made of cell phones or texting. DOT officer was professional and friendly and so were we.
So far we have been fortunate to not have a run in with any of the over zealous LEO's lurking the mean streets of America.

 

[Yesteryear]

Got stopped by Porky Yorkshire of the Alabama clan the other day. Here's how it went:
PY: Driver, give me your cell phone.
DR: I beg your pardon sir?
PY: Driver, cell phone NOW!!!
DR: Why do you need to see my cell phone?
PY: To see if you've been texting or talking while behind the wheel.
DR: I have not sir,anyway its my wife's phone and she's in the
in the sleeper.
PY: I DON"T CARE! PHONE NOW!!!
DR: Sir, did you observe me talking or texting?
PY: Doesn't matter. If theres any calls received or texting while
you were driving, your getting a ticket!!!
DR: But sir, what if my wife was the one using her phone not
me?
PY: Doesn't matter. Phone's within your reach so I'm to assume
you were the one using it. Hand it over now!
DR: No sir. Wife's phone. She's in the sleeper and I'm not waking
her up for this, nor are you. Get a warrant if you feel the need.
PY: Driver, I can make your life miserable if I choose.
DR: Yes you can, as I can take you to court. You have just
made an unwarranted threat of which my wife whom is
prior law enforcement just witnessed from our sleeper.
How much longer do you plain to detain us sir?
PY: Get the Hell out of here driver.

Grow some b*##s drivers and stop this abuse from ignorant porkchops in patrol cars. THIS IS WHAT THE NEW CELL PHONE LAWS GETS US!

ROFLMAO Porky can't do this it constitutes a search! Can say no and there is nothing porky can do because this is just an infraction so therefore porky can't even get a warrant. The only way the officer can do anything is if he actually saw you doing the infraction and then he doesn't need to "see" the phone all he has to do is write you the ticket!