Illinois Texting and Internet Surfing Ban

[swilson]

I'll be sure to keep it as low as I can so it's out of window site. That and I really avoid driving at night anyway.

 

[swilson]

I take it that is will be considered a primary and not a secondary offense.

If it goes into affect, I would count of officers enforcing it beyond was this 'one' sheriff says, especially in non-urban areas (where suburbanites are more likely to complain about the issue).

Frankly I have no real big issue with it. As long as I can still have nav and radar up that's fine. Otherwise it takes only a few seconds to pull over and take a look at the computer before driving again.

I'm pretty sure MN and a few other states have this in affect.

Yea I pull over if i'm doing anything that takes my eyes off the road, and navigating a map and debating about something would certainly do that.

My biggest issue with it, like most things government is abuse on their side of the fence.

 

[Tyler Allison]

Why yes officer. See my laptop open to Streets and Trips? That makes it a GPS. I'd like to see you prove that I was doing anything other than looking at the map. Yup...I have the time to see you in court. Thanks for the ticket. You might want to meet me at the next intersection where I'll be looking at my map again. You can write me another ticket for that too. And, if you have nothing better to do...you can follow me around and write tickets at each intersection.

 

[Glenn Dorth]

I can see some state troopers actually doing that. In Ohio a trooper wrote me a warning for following a trailer too closely. I was going eastbound on I-80 and he was going west. He flipped his lights on and made a U-turn to pull me over. He said I should be 6 car lengths away from the vehicle in front of me instead of 4. But hey, I'm just glad he didn't nail me for speeding lol.

 

[jtobias]

Laptops were already illegal to operate while driving in Illinois under most circumstances per existing legislation: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.asp?DocName=062500050K12-604.1

Also, check out this amendment that's currently sitting in committee down in Springfield: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/Bil...=SB&LegID=42406&SessionID=76&GA=96&SpecSess=0 (stiffens penalties anywhere from a Class A misdemeanor to as much as a Class 1 felony, depending on certain circumstances).

If you read the text, GPS receivers are specifically exempt. It is the opinion of the Illinois State Police, when I inquired, that laptop screens are considered a "video monitor" and they will cite if they see a laptop open under the circumstances described within the law.

Each law enforcement officer will likely interpret the law differently when it comes to deciding whether or not to cite, especially if you are using the computer solely for a mapping application (e.g. Microsoft Streets and Trips, DeLorme Street Atlas USA, etc.) in conjunction with a GPS unit. In that case, you would probably find yourself trying to beguile the exact wording of this particular code.

Does squad cars have laptops in them over in Illinois? I know over here in Iowa they are becoming more popular with law enforcement, it allows less radio communication with dispatch so if there is ever something big, the radio frequencies are open and they can run vehicles tags and/or driver info in the squad cars.

 

[rdale]

Does squad cars have laptops in them over in Illinois?

Yes they do. And before you ask - it's specifically listed as an exception in the law.

 

[Jesse Risley]

While we're at it, it's probably worth mentioning that the "no cell phones in a school or highway construction zone" law went into place today.

According to the new law:
"A person, regardless of age, may not use a wireless telephone at any time while operating a motor vehicle on a roadway in a school speed zone, or on a highway in a construction or maintenance speed zone."


There are exceptions for a person engaged in a highway construction or maintenance, emergencies and when the phone is in voice-activated mode.


Full text available at http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=096-0131

 

[Tyler Allison]

just one more unenforceable law that will be ignored

 

[Joe Schaub]

Even if you're "Busted" for texting or surfing, simply say you were making a call, checking your battery, or one of the million other excuses. This will be about as effective as the "click it or ticket" check points. They advertise the check point a mile ahead of time; you have to be extremely stupid or stubborn enough to pay $100 for it to be effective. Another joke of a law that will have absolutely zero impact on making the road safer...

Not at all correct. The now have legal authority to obtain your phone records and determine if you received texts or email on your phone. If they determine that you did leading upto you being stopped, you will get ticketed and have no defense.

 

[rdale]

Receiving a message and reading a message are two different things... Many times I'll see the alert, but won't flip open and read it until I'm in a better spot depending on who it is from. The cell records won't show what time a message was actually read, so again - unenforceable feelgood.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

Not at all correct. The now have legal authority to obtain your phone records and determine if you received texts or email on your phone. If they determine that you did leading upto you being stopped, you will get ticketed and have no defense.

So now it's illegal to receive a text? Can't prove if and or when it was read, by whom it was read, and a million other factors. You really think they'll allocate the resource involved to take those measures, for a $100 (or whatever minimal price) ticket they're attempting to write? Not to mention a plethora of other defenses, above and beyond if a message was recieved or not. Only way for this to be at all effective is to ban all cell phone use altogether. Sure it might scare a few people into abiding by the law, though I guarentee you, *if* they were able to effectivly prosecute people, it will merely scare a small number of folks into abiding by the law. I'll give you the benifit of the doubt and say they manage to push this crap through the courts with ease, there is still no way, even repeated minor tickets will stop most from using the phone (if anything now they'll be more secretive and doing it by keeping the phone lower and or other methods that will only lead to great distraction). This all goes without mention that most new cars already have system dedicated to sending and receiving text's through the car's stereo system, I can send and read texts, make calls, all through the buttons on my steering wheel or on my radio; next step, tickets for changing radio settings??

Only time I see this law having any merit or impact, is in injury accidents, and even then when good attorney's get involved there will be plenty of "issues" to be worked out. In terms of everyday impact, I still see absolutely none...

 

[Jesse Risley]

Only time I see this law having any merit or impact, is in injury accidents, and even then when good attorney's get involved there will be plenty of "issues" to be worked out. In terms of everyday impact, I still see absolutely none...

It probably won't. It's just another piece of legislation that makes a select group of people feel safe and democracy in action look good.

As I said previously, most of the convictions will probably come from either people who just pay the fine and don't bother to challenge it in court or from people who are cited mostly due to their own admission of guilt during a traffic stop. I doubt they'll bother trying to enforce it in most circumstances unless there was an accident involved or someone does something to draw attention to their poor driving habits (e.g. crossing the center line).

 

[Joe beier]

Why yes officer. See my laptop open to Streets and Trips? That makes it a GPS. I'd like to see you prove that I was doing anything other than looking at the map. Yup...I have the time to see you in court. Thanks for the ticket. You might want to meet me at the next intersection where I'll be looking at my map again. You can write me another ticket for that too. And, if you have nothing better to do...you can follow me around and write tickets at each intersection.

Exactly what I was thinking. You're just an alt+tab away from a loophole. Either way, I do know that I've seen cops texting, talking, using laptops etc(not work related) in school/construction zones but that's no big issue I guess. In fact I know of an ISU officer that just recently received a "warning" because he wasn't even accomplishing anything while patrolling. For a while all he had been doing is text messaging, playing games and surfing the web on his iphone.

 

[Joe Schaub]

So now it's illegal to receive a text? Can't prove if and or when it was read, by whom it was read, and a million other factors. You really think they'll allocate the resource involved to take those measures, for a $100 (or whatever minimal price) ticket they're attempting to write? Not to mention a plethora of other defenses, above and beyond if a message was recieved or not. Only way for this to be at all effective is to ban all cell phone use altogether. Sure it might scare a few people into abiding by the law, though I guarentee you, *if* they were able to effectivly prosecute people, it will merely scare a small number of folks into abiding by the law. I'll give you the benifit of the doubt and say they manage to push this crap through the courts with ease, there is still no way, even repeated minor tickets will stop most from using the phone (if anything now they'll be more secretive and doing it by keeping the phone lower and or other methods that will only lead to great distraction). This all goes without mention that most new cars already have system dedicated to sending and receiving text's through the car's stereo system, I can send and read texts, make calls, all through the buttons on my steering wheel or on my radio; next step, tickets for changing radio settings??

Only time I see this law having any merit or impact, is in injury accidents, and even then when good attorney's get involved there will be plenty of "issues" to be worked out. In terms of everyday impact, I still see absolutely none...

I am just telling you what the cops have at thier disposal. If it's in the case of a repeat offender or a serious accident I would say it's a sure bet the records will be obtained. Also if you get vocal with the officer he (as they have been known to do) will go after you for every possible thing he can from tire treads being to shallow to vehicle light infractions, to whatever he sees fit.

I just thought I would post the information I would to give people a heads up that this is not going to be something easy to get out of. They are supposedly taking a zero tolerence stance on this.

Also, the laptop as a GPS unit idea won't work either. A friend of mine got a $100 ticket for that plus court costs for fighting it and losing it.

 

[swilson]

Also, the laptop as a GPS unit idea won't work either. A friend of mine got a $100 ticket for that plus court costs for fighting it and losing it.

That disgust's me