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Nov 27, 2016
Court defines what is considered hands-free use of cellphone while driving
The courts in Jerusalem issued an interesting decision.
A driver was stopped for holding his cellphone in his hand. He was slapped with a 1500nis fine and 14 days suspended license.
The driver tried to defend himself saying that he was not using the phone, just happened to take the phone out of his pocket, as it was bothering him, and was putting it down on the side.
The court decided that it is irrelevant whether or not the driver is actually using the phone, as long as he is holding it in his hands it is a problem. The prosecution has no need to prove what he was doing with the phone, if anything, just simply that he was holding the phone.
Interestingly, the judge said that the fact that the driver did not have both hands on the steering wheel is enough to fine him. I find this interesting because I was not aware that by law one must have both hands on the wheel at all times, even though that is how we learn to drive (think 10 and 2). They could be stopping and fining almost every driver on the road at some point - even though I mostly keep both hands on the wheel, there are plenty of times where I do not.
Another interesting point is that the court also decided that the purpose of the law is to prevent using the phone while driving, and even though the original law was written specifically regarding the usage of talking and sending messages, the law has since progressed automatically and any use of the phone that takes away the focus on the driving from the driver is illegal usage, even if the phone is not in his hand but in a hands-free unit.
Two aspects of that are interesting, and I wonder if the driver could even appeal this decision:
1. the law automatically updates itself to include anything that takes away focus? the law is written to make two very specific acts illegal but automatically includes other undetermined acts? that does not make sense. If they want it to include everything and anything, the law should be written in a way that does, not to include only two specific acts.
2. I was wondering about usage of a phone in a dashboard mount - is it considered hands free just to click on something, as it isn't in your hands, or is it illegal as part of using the cellphone while driving even though you are not holding it in your hands? I guess this provides the answer, though I wonder if it is appealable if someone gets fined or his license suspended for clicking on the mounted phone (let's say to bring up a phone number to make a call, even while sitting at a red light) because the law talks about not holding the phone. and why would this be any different than changing the radio station, changing the air conditioning level or doing anything else in the car, which I dont think has led to fines and suspensions?
source: Kikar
A driver was stopped for holding his cellphone in his hand. He was slapped with a 1500nis fine and 14 days suspended license.
The driver tried to defend himself saying that he was not using the phone, just happened to take the phone out of his pocket, as it was bothering him, and was putting it down on the side.
The court decided that it is irrelevant whether or not the driver is actually using the phone, as long as he is holding it in his hands it is a problem. The prosecution has no need to prove what he was doing with the phone, if anything, just simply that he was holding the phone.
Interestingly, the judge said that the fact that the driver did not have both hands on the steering wheel is enough to fine him. I find this interesting because I was not aware that by law one must have both hands on the wheel at all times, even though that is how we learn to drive (think 10 and 2). They could be stopping and fining almost every driver on the road at some point - even though I mostly keep both hands on the wheel, there are plenty of times where I do not.
Another interesting point is that the court also decided that the purpose of the law is to prevent using the phone while driving, and even though the original law was written specifically regarding the usage of talking and sending messages, the law has since progressed automatically and any use of the phone that takes away the focus on the driving from the driver is illegal usage, even if the phone is not in his hand but in a hands-free unit.
Two aspects of that are interesting, and I wonder if the driver could even appeal this decision:
1. the law automatically updates itself to include anything that takes away focus? the law is written to make two very specific acts illegal but automatically includes other undetermined acts? that does not make sense. If they want it to include everything and anything, the law should be written in a way that does, not to include only two specific acts.
2. I was wondering about usage of a phone in a dashboard mount - is it considered hands free just to click on something, as it isn't in your hands, or is it illegal as part of using the cellphone while driving even though you are not holding it in your hands? I guess this provides the answer, though I wonder if it is appealable if someone gets fined or his license suspended for clicking on the mounted phone (let's say to bring up a phone number to make a call, even while sitting at a red light) because the law talks about not holding the phone. and why would this be any different than changing the radio station, changing the air conditioning level or doing anything else in the car, which I dont think has led to fines and suspensions?
source: Kikar
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That's how they make money - justly and fairly mean nothing. That's today world, same as yesterday's, just worse.
ReplyDeleteThe law specifically states that both hands have to be on the wheel; you can take one hand off if you need to do something for safe operation of the car or to follow some traffic law (I assume this includes shifting gears, signalling, etc.; technically, it seems that you can't even adjust the A/C or radio).
ReplyDeleteThe law also says that you can't hold a telephone while driving. Seemingly, this would even apply if the phone is off.
Use of a speaker is OK as long as the phone is securely held in the car (a dashboard mount, for example).
However, the law defines a telephone, inter alia, as a device with buttons for dialing. It's very possible that smartphones are not considered telephones under this law. This is a huge loophole in the law, and I'm not sure any judge would allow it. But it's not a "loophole of omission;" the law goes out of it's way to mention the buttons (I once heard that it was put in to allow taxi drivers to use their walkie-talkies).
good point about the smartphone.
Deletewhat you write supports the question about using a phone while it is in the mount. it takes your hand off the wheel momentarily, but not necessarily for any longer than adjusting the AC or radio.