OT: Good, make em go to court too...

[purplefaithful]

Police begin issuing tickets to drivers violating Minnesota's hands-free lawMinnesota on Thursday became the 19th state with a hands-free law. For months, authorities have spread the word about the law through news reports, social media and through literature passed out at civic events.But not everybody got the message, or complied with it.
In Eagan, police ticketed a woman who was texting her friend about the new law, then put the phone up to her ear to make a call, said Officer Aaron Machtemes. In New Hope, a traffic advisory group composed of officers from a handful of northwest metro suburbs gave warnings to some drivers and tickets to others. The first driver Glassberg cited in Hopkins admitted that he knew about the law, but still picked up the phone.
Glassberg stopped four other drivers, including one woman who said she was unaware of the law. Another woman said she could not resist making a call to her daughter, even though she knew holding the phone was illegal. A driver in New Hope didn’t know the law banned programming his GPS while motoring.
Tickets come with a fine of $50 for the first offense and $275 for each violation after, plus court costs that may get tacked on.

http://www.startribune.com/police-begin-...513499142/

[Guest]

I'd rather be on a highway with a thousand drivers who've had 3 or 4 beers than a highway with 1 driver who's texting. I'm not kidding. As a father it scares the hell out of me.

But what's this law about? It says you can't even be on the phone talking? That's a little extreme. And it could very possibly make things worse by inadvertently encouraging folks to text with their phones down low as opposed to just calling someone. 

[Guest]

@MaroonBells said:
I'd rather be on a highway with a thousand drivers who've had 3 or 4 beers than a highway with 1 driver who's texting. I'm not kidding. As a father it scares the hell out of me.

But what's this law about? It says you can't even be on the phone talking? That's a little extreme. And it could very possibly make things worse by inadvertently encouraging folks to text with their phones down low as opposed to just calling someone. 

In California, the law reads as follows - I would bet MN is similar. Basically, you cannot hold the phone for anything while driving, but you can communicate with your phone ONLY if its a hands free setup. NO listening, texting with your hands.

California Distracted Driving laws summary:

• In California drivers are not allowed to use mobile phones for calling, nor reading or writing text messages while driving on a public road.
• Drivers may use cell phones for texting or calling in case they have a hands-free system installed.
• All drivers under the age of 18 are prohibited from using phones even with a handsfree system.