New police radar gun to catch people who text while driving

Monday, March 14, 2016 by: PF Louis
Tags: police tools, texting while driving, road safety

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(NaturalNews) You've probably experienced cars in front of you who don't move when a light turns green or cars who drift into your lane in city traffic. You may have noticed that a lot of them are conversing on their cell phones, or worse, they are texting with their phones. Yikes, how much worse can it get!?

Almost all states permit conversational cell phone use while driving. Those that allow it may have some restrictions on teens, drivers under 21, and school bus and/or transit bus drivers.

But text messaging is out of the question as of 2013 in 44 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam.

A state by state list of cell phone use laws while driving, with specific restrictions where conversational and texting cell phone usages are considered violating "distracted driving" laws, is provided in the sources below.

New technology developing to determine how cell phones are being used in vehicles

The state of Virginia permits drivers over 18 to use their cell phones conversationally while driving. But texting is not allowed for anyone. As mentioned, this is common in most other states.

A Virginia-based company has been working on a device that will enable police to determine whether or not a driver is using his or her cell phone for texting while on the road.

Harrisburg, Virginia-based company ComSonics is closing in on production for their device that is based on devices produced for cable installers and repair technicians to determine specific cable frequency leakage sources from minor damages on the line.

This company has worked with law enforcement in the past by providing electronic speed calibration equipment such as radar guns and other devices. So they have an inroad to law enforcement agencies in Virginia and elsewhere after they iron out the bugs in their new system.

Final production is based on successful testing, legislative approvals and police departments' willingness to adopt the devices.

ComSonics assures the privacy-concerned public that their new text message devices will not be able to decrypt the text messages. But if the NSA (National Security Agency) and Homeland Security have their way, will that be next?

Opinion and commentary

Perhaps if all cell phone use while driving is banned everywhere, there would be less need for even more surveillance and less frustration for drivers who are annoyed or endangered by them.

This type of equipment creates a higher financial overhead burden, which has to be balanced out with higher fines and fees for minor roadway infractions. Traffic cops and highway patrol officer numbers should be trimmed down rather then beefed up to create revenue for municipal and state agencies.

They're not all bad, of course, but too many traffic enforcement officers do exploit their power over drivers for inconsequential minor infractions. It would be better to minimize the tazerings and shootings of innocent victims being pulled over or pursued for minor violations.

One example of a cop shooting a driver for a seat belt violation is featured in the YouTube source below.

Sources for this article include:

http://hamptonroads.com

http://www.ncsl.org

http://www.youtube.com