SBPDPIOBy the Santa Barbara Police Department
The month of April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month, and the Santa Barbara Police Department will be actively looking for drivers throughout the month who are in violation of the state’s hands-free cell phone law.
“Holding your phone and using it while driving is not only dangerous, but also illegal,” Officer Tornello said.
According to the 2022 California Statewide Public Opinion Survey, nearly 72% of drivers surveyed said that distracted driving because of texting was their biggest safety concern. In 2021, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) issued nearly 56,000 citations for distracted driving.
Under current law, drivers are not allowed to hold a phone or electronic communications device while operating a vehicle. This includes talking, texting, or using an app. Using a handheld cell phone while driving is punishable by a fine. Violating the hands-free law for a second time within 36 months of a prior conviction for the same offense will result in a point being added to a driver’s record.
If you have an important phone call, text, email, or in a situation with other distractions, pull over to a safe parking spot. Other distractions can be eating, grooming, reaching for something that fell on the floor, putting on or taking off clothing, talking with passengers, or children in the back seat.
Funding for distracted driving enforcement is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Reading this while driving
Hahahaha. CONSERVATIVESB Thanks for the good laugh. I think maybe you should have put —/s— indicating you were kidding around. Looks like at least two people went headlong into the big WHOOSH. (Please take my upvote.)
“Distracted/Awareness”? Sort of an oxymoron. Maybe they are seeing if we are paying attention?
1) Is picking up your phone to look at a message on the screen while waiting at an intersection (without typing or touching the screen) illegal? Is the law “holding and using” or is just “holding” as in my hypothetical punishable?
2) “talking with passengers, or children in the back seat?” Seriously? Arguing with a passenger/kid makes sense, but just talking to people in your car? If you can’t speak words while driving a car, you shouldn’t be behind the wheel.
1. Yes it is illegal, my wife got a ticket for this EXACT scenario.
2. This is just nuts. How would Uber work exactly?
CONSERVATIVESB – we agree on something! Picking up and looking at your phone is no different than raising your arm to look at your watch. If you’re at an intersection and you look at something in your car, you shouldn’t be fined. That’s absurd.
What? Sorry I wasn’t paying attention.
I got pulled over once for being on my phone, in April, and the officer asked me when I noticed his lights. When I told him he said that they had been on for a few blocks before I saw him. He was friendly, and he wasn’t shaming me, he was filling out a questionnaire about it. I thought I was more aware than it turned out that I was and that was a reality check for me. You all laugh but you may not be as aware as you think you are.
In addition to cell phones, remember this:
“Other serious driver distractions such as eating, grooming, reading, reaching for objects on the floor, changing clothes or talking with passengers are just as dangerous and can result in a “reckless driving” or “speed unsafe for conditions” ticket.”
Eating? OK, maybe.
Talking with passengers? Isn’t enforcement of that rather subjective.
I am glad to know that the Santa Barbara Police Department will be actively looking this month for drivers who are in violation of the state’s hands-free cell phone law. Perhaps they could also launch a project for a month to catch drivers who go through red lights, which is becoming a common occurrence. I experience this both as a pedestrian and a driver.