Montgomery County Police cleaned up Tuesday morning when they nailed dozens of motorists for using their phones or texting while driving, raking in what will surely be a nice bounty of fines for the department.
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During the operation, an officer, dressed in jeans, sunglasses and a hoodie stood by the side of the road holding up a cardboard sign with a few writing on it. Most didn’t inspect the writing too closely.
Maryland police in Montgomery County are trying a new tactic to catch people who text and drive.
The undercover officer, equipped with a police radio and wearing a body camera, tipped off other officers to the offending car’s description, when he witnessed someone illegally using a smartphone behind the wheel.
Drivers who hold a cell phone – even if they’re not texting – violate Montgomery County traffic laws, reports WUSA. “I’m not disagreeing”, one unidentified driver who was ticketed admitted to WUSA.
He also has a wireless microphone so he can tell an awaiting uniformed officer which driver was breaking the law.
If all those dummy drivers had been focusing on the road instead of texting or toying with their phones, they wouldn’t have gotten those tickets.
“It’s smart. It’s [texting and driving] really risky”.
“If you’re using your thumbs, texting, while driving down the road it’s totally distracting, because you have to look down to see what you’re typing”, says Chapin.
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Chapin told the Associated Press that authorities are seeing more distracted-driver-related deaths as a result of people using their phones while behind the wheel.
