@jca Here in WA, it’s also illegal to text-and-drive or to use the phone in any way other than hands-free; your options are bluetooth, speakerphone or ticket. And a lot of people around here have setups like @SecondHandStoke has. Also, you can’t eat behind the wheel around here as it too is seen as a distraction.
However, there are some people who don’t get that this isn’t 1986 and current phones are far more than just phones. Modern smartphones have plenty of legitimate uses, even when driving, but they don’t care. Yet the reasons they cite are reasons that would also require laws against other things in order to maintain consistency. How many drivers are distracted by their passengers? Or get into trouble tuning the radio? But because those activities don’t involve a cellphone, they are perfectly fine.
The issue I have is that it’s a bit tricky to tell what the phone was used for without digging deep, and this test really is no better than many of the tests used during he Salem Witch Trials. I also feel that lawmakers and law enforcement are of questionable competence and ethics when it comes to anything related to technology. If you knew how long Kevin Mitnick was in prison before even being charged, or the real reason he wasn’t allowed to use a telephone, and how the methodology of their testing is pure fucking snake oil you might share my skepticism. If they go by whether the phone was streaming data, then GPS and internet radio could get you nailed. If you look close enough to see what was doing the data streaming and tell GPS from texting, you get into fourth amendment issues.
Whether convicting innocent people or trashing their fourth amendment rights, I see no good coming from this. The best that can be said about it is that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. In fact, that is the only good thing about it; they mean well and are proposing to cause a lot of damage through sheer ineptitude rather than malice. But dangerous idiots can be just as dangerous as those actually out to do intentional harm, so I treat morons as just as big a threat as actual criminals.