New legislation proposed by New Jersey state Senator James Holzapfel would allow cops to confiscate cell phones if they have “reasonable grounds” to believe that a driver may have been talking or texting on his cell phone when an accident occurred. Officers would be required to return the phone after they had a chance to go through the phone’s history to check to see if the driver was texting or talking when the accident occurred.
While this proposed law is only in its very early stages and is in New Jersey, and not Texas, it could signal a new direction in laws meant to cut down on distracted driving.
The bill has been proposed at a time when people are more and more suspicious of the government and individual privacy when it comes to cell phones, so the proposed bill has set off alarms with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.
New technologies have created a whole new slew of distractions for drivers, and cell phones, GPS units, music players and more are said to be contributing to more and more accidents as drivers tend to pay less attention to the road.
Eleven states have banned talking on handheld cell phones while driving, and 41 states have outlawed texting while driving a motor vehicle.
This proposed New Jersey law could be the beginning of a new wave of laws created to cut down on distracted driving.
Source: CNN.com, “After the Crash: Driver’s License, Registration, Cell Phone, Please,” by Ed Payne, June 12, 2013