To Google Map or Not to Google Map?

You can read your cell phone map, until you can’t.

Steven Spriggs was driving in stop and go traffic while looking at the map on his cell phone.  An officer saw him holding the device and proceeded to pull him over and issue him a $165.00 citation.   The Superior Court of Fresno County affirmed the conviction, but the Court of Appeal disagreed with their conclusion and reversed.

The Court of Appeals determined that Vehicle Code Section 23133(a) did not prohibit all hand held uses of a cell phone.  The court explained that the code section merely “prohibits ‘listening and talking’ on a wireless telephone unless the telephone is used in a hands-free mode.”  In support of this conclusion, the court explained that the legislative history of the code provision focused on the distraction caused by holding a conversation, not use of the device itself.  Further, that subsequent actions by the legislature that specifically prohibited texting while driving indicated that the legislature had not contemplated a prohibition against all phone use. 

For many, this muddies the water even more.  How exactly will officers be able to tell if someone is looking at a map or sending a text?  Now that the court has put their foot down on map use, officers are retreating to a different law, not included in the 2008 cell provisions, that prohibits “driving while distracted.”  Officers indicate that they will continue to pull over distracted drivers under this provision.

The elephant in the room: opening the back door to racial profiling

With the increasing number of blurry lines when it comes to driving and using your phone, I think it’s no secret that this law can be used as a pretext for racial profiling.  Do you know why I pulled you over? Because it looked like you were holding something in your hand that could have been a cell phone, and you may have been attempting to text while driving.   That could be anyone, at almost any given time.  

The moral of the story, get one of those mats that holds your cell phone to the dashboard for all to see.