Usually when police catch drivers using a cellphones in states where mobile phones are prohibited during driving, the best excuse the culprits can give to get away from a ticket is that they are not taking a call and neither sending or receiving any text messages. In fact they claim to be just using maps on the phone to find their destination. This explanation usually works for drivers because with the advent of smartphones more and more people have started using mapping apps in order to reach their desired location. However, now this old trick is not going to save drivers from a ticket because the police are going to be cracking down on all phone usage during driving. A recent law suit in which a judge W. Kent Hamlin from California set an example for future cases by ruling that drivers in the state cannot use their mobile phones for anything when they are driving.
Judge W. Kent Hamlin made this verdict in a case that involved Steven Spriggs, who claimed that police had given him a ticket for using cellphone other than making or receiving a call while driving. According to Spriggs he was using mapping app on his cellphone while driving. On this Judge Hamlin made a very simple and clear ruling by stating that “This case requires us to determine whether using a wireless phone solely for its map application function while driving violates Vehicle Code section 23123.1 We hold that it does.”
Shedding more light on the ruling, Judge Hamlin stated that any sort of distraction for driver is a distraction after all whether the driver is sending or receiving text messages over his or her cellphone, making or receiving calls or operating to get the maps. He also asked whether the founding fathers of the nation have not introduced the bill so it could be applied to a certain limit. Therefore, Judge Hamlin ruled that the law was derived to cover all sorts of distractions and gave judgement against the plaintiff.
With this judgment Judge Hamlin has given a clear cut message to the rest of drivers in California State that they should keep their mobile phones away while driving.
Source: PhoneArena
Photo: it-lex
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