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Michigan State Police change story, say trucker watched movie on pc

Wallace Scifres’ laptop computer is so old it predates the Windows 95 operating system by two years.

Yes, that’s the 1995 computer operating system you likely stopped using 10 years ago.

“It can’t even play a DVD,” Scifres said.

Scifres was surprised to be told this past week that he was being cited for violating a federal regulation concerning television screens because of his mounted computer, which he says has barely enough memory to power his mapping software.

Scifres was headed from Cincinnati, OH, to Albion, MI, Sept. 28, when his 1999 International was pulled over on Interstate 94 near Dearing, MI. A state police officer told him his left marker light was inoperable, and his computer was not allowed because it qualified as a television receiver under FMCSR 393.88. The reg prohibits commercial drivers from keeping screens capable of receiving a television broadcast from view when the driver is at the wheel.

“I said, ‘you show me how to receive television on this and I will thank you,’” Scifres told Land Line Thursday, Sept. 30. “It’s a 1993 computer with 600 Mhz. You can’t even get online with it.”

Scifres is an OOIDA life member from Lucasville, OH, who’s been driving since 1974. With a clean driving record with millions of safe miles, Scifres said he’ll fight the ticket.

“I’d like to fight this thing one way or another. It’s the principle of the thing that irritates me more than anything,” Scifres said. “I know it is possible that these computers could be misused. You could be e-mailing, and I’m totally against that. But I just got a safety pin from my company and a $100 bonus with a certificate. I must be doing something right.”

Reached by phone, Michigan State Police Lt. Ron Crampton said though the citation says Scifres is being prosecuted under FMCSR 393.88, the officer should have written Michigan state code 257.708B, which prohibits operating “motor vehicle with television or similar electronic device viewable by operator … that displays a video image.”

“That was corrected. She put the wrong violation on there when she wrote the citation,” Crampton said of the officer.

State police are allowed to change the statute by which citations are being issued after the fact “if they’ve made a mistake on a section of law.”

Crampton called the officer’s immediate superior after Land Line’s inquiry about the laptop citation. The supervisor told Crampton that the officer noticed a movie playing on the laptop’s screen.

Both the incident report and the citation, however, make no mention of a movie.

www.LandLineMag.com