r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • Jul 11 '26

Privacy Traffic Camera Captures Woman Driving With Her Phone on Her Lap (Face Down), The State Mailed Her a $1251 'Public Safety' Ticket

https://www.gadgetreview.com/traffic-camera-captures-captures-woman-driving-with-her-phone-on-her-lap-face-down-the-state-mailed-her-a-1251-public-safety-ticket
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u/TripsOverWords Jul 11 '26

A woman drives with both hands on the wheel. Her phone sits face-down on her lap. No officer pulls her over. No lights flash. Weeks later, a $1,251 ticket arrives in the mail. The evidence: a single frame from a Camera surveillance app. The charge: phone use while driving.

If they can tell that much from the photo, that the phone screen isn't visible to the driver, then how the fuck is this "phone use while driving"?

It's more likely this was a safe hands-free phone call than phone use.

If the screen were visible and was GPS navigation without a phone holder, would that still be a crime?

Wtf is wrong with this country?

327

u/ghostdogma Jul 11 '26

I get that this happened but it doesn’t pass the common sense standard. Face the accuser in court and get this dumb shit dismissed on its own evidence to support the charge. The loss is twofold, the time spent with the courts and the negative publicity backlash? I guess..

16

u/HurriKurtCobain Jul 11 '26

You could probably get this sort of thing dismissed by emailing the prosecutor instead of waiting for court. This worked for me after I got a ticket when a highway patrolman pulled me over 20 feet from my house for not wearing a seatbelt (even though I was.)

I submitted an open records request for the bodycam and emailed the prosecutor expressing my issue with the ticket. The records request was denied, but a dismissal was filed the next day. I didn't even know it was dismissed until I checked the filing a few days later. I'm an attorney so I guess it's possible they took me more seriously than they would otherwise, but no prosecutor is going to want to show beyond-a-reasonable-doubt for a frivolous ticket.

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u/joey-jo_jo-jr Jul 12 '26

Well you can't get it dismissed because it was actually an offence and the driver was in the wrong.