AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine State Police have found an innovative way to observe drivers texting behind the wheel, Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland says.
Using an unmarked van, troopers cited 23 motorists on the Maine Turnpike recently during a four-hour period, McCausland said in a prepared statement Friday. Many were texting.
As one trooper drove the van, a second trooper sat in the back observing other drivers’ activities as they passed. In addition to texting, drivers were eating, reading or using the phone, all affecting their operation.
It was the largest number of motorists cited by state police for distracted driving since the no-texting law went into effect last fall, McCausland said.
Maine’s latest highway death has been attributed to texting.
Penobscot County deputies said Tracy McPhee, 44, of West Enfield, died late Wednesday night in Eddington when her car suddenly went off the road and slammed into a tree.
An examination of her cellphone showed she had been texting moments before the crash.
Maine’s highway death toll for the year stands at 21, compared with 14 deaths at this same time in 2011, according to the Bureau of Highway Safety.
AWESOME…Thank You Maine State Police …finally someone is stopping this!
Not sure if you can hear me all the way up there on your high horse but ….. Finally? There are more than enough public service announcements to at the least make the determination that there are people out there who HAVE been trying to stop it.
Some day liberals will get there way and everyone will have their own gov’t issued escort. Until then people are going to be allowed to drive by themselves so awareness is the only medicine sometimes.
Umm, what does this have to do with liberals or conservatives?
Plenty.
Like what?
Awareness is far from the only medicine for this illness. All the public service announcements in the world wont put a stop to this. It’s high time that the MSP took a serious stance on this like they are now. People are just plain stupid to think they can opperate a ton and a half of machinery while looking down at a 2 inch screen and reading a text.
Yeah, other wise known as, don’t let me catch ya picking your nose, police. What a waste of time and resources. It will take about two days for everyone to know what the van looks like and who the two idiots are that are on booger patrol.
Great start…BUT,if you really want to stop alot of them,set beside people @ lights.I have seen tons of them doin it and then when the light changes you can still watch them as they drive off
Exhibit A: mcdonalds/walmart intersection on route 102 skowtown
They selling fireworks at that Wal Mart yet?
Lots of them are so engrossed in their texting at the traffic lights that they are still sitting there until you blow the horn to get them moving !!
I totally agree. Living on the East side of Bangor, i see young adults pull out of Husson daily at the 4 corners on Husson Avenue and they are texting away, oblivious to an intersection that relies on people paying attention and being courteous as there is no flashing light and it is a four way stop. I shake my head there daily.
Talk about oblivious. Adults of various ages taking right turnstend not o not look to the right to see if there might be a pedestrian right there? People on foot are supposed to oppose traffic.
Although, for safety reasons, I think that could or should be debateable.
I’ve seen it there too! I have also witnessed on many occasions police officers using their cell phones or laptops at traffic lights and while driving.
Cant blame just the young adults anymore, I’ve seen many in their mid to late 40’s doing it too.
Hard to kill someone while texting at a red light
Easy to cause an accident, tho.
Thats if they drive off, more often than not they’re so invested in their text message that the guy behind them has to lay on the horn before they realize the light has turned green.
Could put 50 vans out there on the $ that would be racked up through fines.
It is a white van with a large black window on the side. It is usually parked on an overpass in Scarborough with a radar gun picking off speeders.
Try texting next time you drive by it so we can see if it’s working.
Or fake texting and see if they get stopped.
Great job MSP but why would they put an article in the newspaper to blow their cover. Now everybody will read about it and be watching for these vans.
Well if they’re watching for the vans instead of texting, at least their eyes are focused outside the vehicle.
Huh, watching for vans? Is that just not one more distraction taking the focus off your driving and could end up getting a ticket for?
Maybe they want people to know the vans are out there so they will just stop on their own. If people are concentrating on locating state police vans, they won’t be able to focus on texting. Some people may not believe it but the police in some cases are actually trying to make things safer and not just looking to spy or take your rights away. I don’t think this program was started to mess with Mainerss. It is being done to make the roads less dangerous. I swear if driving while blindfolded ever caught on, people would argue that the police were Nazis for trying to stop it.
If the SP vans are unmarked as the article stated, and there are hundreds of vans on the road at any time, telling people is not going to ‘blow their cover’.
It’ll keep texters and cellers on their toes.
Twice in the past two weeks, in Rockport, I’ve had a car go past me, the other way, with an old woman driving, and her dog in her lap, hanging out the window. (FYI, two DIFFERENT old ladies in different cars with different dogs…) When it happened YESTERDAY, there just happened to be a police office sitting there on Old County Road running radar. If -I- get stopped for not wearing a seat belt, why do these old ladies not get stopped for distracted driving, driving around with their dog in their lap, in the driver’s seat?
Maybe it’s because they drive expensive cars…and I just drive a little ole’ Chevy??? Hmmmm…
Simple-Dog in lap legal. Not wearing you seatbelt illegal.
I don’t know what Simple-Dog is, but, if it leads to distracted driving, it wouldn’t be legal. Yes, driving without a seat belt is illegal (I got stopped for it two weeks after the law went into effect…which is odd, because I have pretty much always worn my seat belt anyway, but that one day, I wasn’t. *shrug*)
A December report from the Office of Legislative Research
notes that Hawaii appears to be the only state that specifically bans a
driver from holding a pet on his or her lap. “The Hawaii law prohibits a
driver from allowing an animal, person or object to interfere with his
or her control of the vehicle,” the report states.
Other states such as Arizona, Connecticut and Maine have broader
distracted driving laws that could be used to penalize distracted
drivers for riding with a pet in their lap, the report noted.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/pets-and-distracted-driving/
That’s exactly my point. It’s hard to imagine that texting is any more (or less) distracting than having your dog sit in your lap while you’re driving (especially when I’ve seen dogs hanging out the window, barking at passing cars, or ‘nosing’ the steering wheel…
…And yet, this woman drive RIGHT PAST a policeman sitting there running radar. Did SHE get pulled over? No. Rockport PD…they’re very quick to pull you over…unless you’re driving a Lexus, Mercedes, Range Rover, Jaguar, et al…but us working stiff’s get pulled over if we blink one to many times…or one to few…
Paranoid much?
Alles Klau? Obey the law and you don’t get tickets… pretty simple
Exactly. But its when those laws start to get hypocritical that things get bad.
I’m all for this as soon as the police stop using the phone, texting, and eating while driving. Oh and you can throw in driving WAY over the posted speed limit too. I have no problem with law enforcement, and have never had what could be called a hard time with the police. But, it really bugs me that they stop people and fine them while they are doing the same thing on a daily basis.
Hypocrisy is a prerequisite for being a cop. The last speeding ticket I got was about 15 years ago and was the result of being baited into a race on I-95 with an off duty cop. When he lost, he picked up the cell phone (distracted driving) and called the state trooper sitting in the median about 5 miles down the road. The trooper whipped out into traffic ( almost causing an accident) and pulled me over. He said they had several complaints of me doing 90 and 100 miles an hour. I called him a liar and told him to tell his buddy that the law is the same for everyone. He wrote me the ticket and checked off the radar box, even though I was held up in traffic and going 65 when I went by him. I called him a liar, again, signed the ticket, and drove off. I called my attorney when I got home and told him that I didn’t care what it cost, I wasn’t paying that ticket. He told me that he would not go to court with me. I asked him why not. He told me that one of them would get up on the stand and lie about it and the other one would swear to it. He had seen it many.many times in his career. He told me to pay the ticket and avoid all contact with cops, period. I payed the ticket and have not had a single word with a cop since.
That what cops do best , in most cases, actually a lot, is lie, lie , and swear to their lies.
Yeah, I haven’t met a police officer who was honest with me yet, but they expect and want everyone to be honest with them. Hypocrits.
I had a speeding ticket I contested. My lawyer knew who the Trooper was and indicated, “He’s a pretty honest police officer.” “Pretty honest?” I asked. I was told some things that made me rethink law enforcement. Anyhow, my Trooper didn’t show up and I was found not guilty.
Would you care to offer some verifiable facts to back up that slanderous statement?? Or, do you think your biased running off at the mouth is sufficient evidence to prove your invalid point?
It’s sufficient for me….I am the second witness to what morningcoffee is saying….Cops are liars and crooks….they have a free ticket with that badge.
Yes…a trait they undoubtedly learned from their Governor…..
Falling ‘victim’ to their ‘trap’ of high-speed racing on the interstate……. Sounds like that was your first mistake.
Agreed. I had a very fast car and I think he just wanted to see how fast it was. When he found out, he turned into a two year old. I sold the car shortly after that and now I drive a slow old pick-up! lol.
I was once told by a lawyer a story about a cop planting coke into someones car and then took them in on drug charges. The only reason the cop got into trouble was because the suspect had planted a camera in his own vehicle because of police behviour.
The police can gang on people too.
We need fact over witnesses to prove cases and reduce abuse.
My lack of trust of law enforcement is the biggest reason I am against the death penalty. Can you imagine the number of innocent people put to death based on bad police work and rigged evidence? DNA evidence is now freeing innocent people every day.
——————————
That is exactly why I keep a remote controlled camera mounted in my car. I’m not saying all cops are dishonest but we all know some are. If I ever get pulled over and they tell me a lie … I got it on my camcard! Remember cameras do not lie. :)
Paranoid much? Sounds like the behavior of someone who might be involved in something a little more serious than speeding!
Just curious how you know it was an off duty police officer?
Crown Vic, municipal plates, blue lights in the back window, and a young cop behind the wheel in plain clothes.
——————————
You said it…LET me see a trooper driving the van and texting. My phone texts and takes pictures.
Who has been fined for eating while driving in the history of the state? I’ll take one example on that one.
Secondly, what evidence do you have of police texting while driving their police car?
Why, he heard it on WVOM, so it must be true.
haven’t seen cops texting, but have seen them surfing the web on the laptops mounted to the dash. See Orono PD doing that, they seem to play on the computers more now and nap less.
I see the police talking on the phone all the time, Bangor, Brewer, State, Sheriff, they all are guilty of that.
they are not texting but they are using their laptops while driving which is EVEN MORE dangerous.They claim they need to when responding to calls but why cant they use the police radio?
I wish this would wake people up, but it won’t, they all think it won’t happen to them..sad, but true
and young girls text more than anyone!!
I wouldn’t be so sure of that. While I was in Bangor yesterday the majority of people I saw testing were grown men!! I’d say they were beyond being twenty-something. Old enough to know better!
I can believe that, but don’t people value their lives at all, because they still do it, even after reading about people dying while texting, like the woman this week…when will people get a clue???
Texting and cell phoning is not confined to one age or gender group. People of all ages and both sexes are guilty of driving inattention. Think about it, next time you’re sitting at an intersection waiting for a break in traffic. You sit. You wait. The vehicle approaching suddenly makes a right turn with no signalling. The operator’s left hand is pressing a cell phone to the ear.
At the risk of being drawn and quartered, I agree with you, Terri. The majority of people who I see texting are young girls. Sure, older people of both genders and young boys do it as well, but the majority who I have seen are younger girls. That’s just the way I see it. Maybe others’ observations are different.
maybe they can set up a hotline you can text to if you see someone texting and driving (:
nobody is stopping texting and driving…a waste of tax dollars.
The Nazis gassed and incinerated millions of people because of race or religion. Please explain how stopping people for a death-dealing practice of texting is similar to wiping out millions of people because of their race…..hmmmmm?
Great news. The texters and cellers haven’t learned yet. You can not drive and talk on a phone.
Texting whilst driving has always puzzled me. Just as much as the walkers who ambidextrously extricate themselves out of the car with the phone stuck in their ear, grab a shopping cart, shove the baby into the basket, and never stop talking – even through the check out.
On the highways it’s a deadly game. People are getting killed and injured. In the stores and on the streets, people just plod across a street without looking. In the stores, they either yelling instructions to the baby sitter, or, griping about the weather.
Great gadgets – rudely abused.
Oh, bosh, of course one can drive and talk on a phone. That’s the same logic people use when they claim that even going handsfree isn’t taking sufficient care, and it’s simply nonsense. People have been driving and talking at the same time since driving was invented, long before mobile telephones came into the picture – generally to those items called passengers. What causes the problem, and involves taking your eyes off the road, is operating the phone, not speaking. Speaking is easy. Dialing by hand without looking at the phone, on the other hand…
Bosh – too. People with cell phones stuck in their necks can’t operate turn signals. The distraction of crimping your neck to hold the phone whilst looking for oncoming traffic and traffic signals, is sufficient to cause an accident. Discordant conversations only elevate the problem. Cell phone users and people texting while driving are a menace to highway safety.
People will cell phones stuck in their necks can’t operate turn signals.
People with cell phones stuck in their necks are Doing It Wrong. I’m pretty sure we covered this under “talking isn’t the problem, operating the phone is the problem”.
I’ve seen cops sit at traffic lights and watch while people are on their phones and driving and never even blink. WHy is it that we have to wait for a death to “Inspect” cell phones. ANY TIME There is a reportable accident, it should be a prerequisite that the operators cellphones are “inspected” to see if they were distracted at the time of the accident. It should’t only be when there is a death involved.
It’s a thing called the right to search, and privacy, maybe you have heard of these things before
The last I knew, being involved in a reportable auto accident was “grounds for probable cause search” since finding the cause means investigation. So the “right to search and privacy” that people always scream about goes out the window when you’re in a car accident.
Your right, every citizen who is involved in an auto accident should be striped of all possessions, searched, car impounded, and fully blood tested. No exceptions. Also lets make it easier by just requiring surveilance equipment standard in each car, I mean if you not doing anything wrong what is there to worry about?
I definitely do not agree that everyone involved in an accident should be stripped, searched, car impounded and fully blood tested. Last January I was going up a hill and the sun was in my eyes. I slowed down. The girl behind me hit me. Why under the sun should my car have been impounded (it wasn’t) or anything else?
I was being sarcastic! Candy would have you believe that you have lost your rights after being rear ended.
It’s just not texting, Maine has a distracted driving law, how many times have you seen someone reading the newspaper, drinking coffee, eating mcdonalds, putting on makeup, the dog sitting in someones lap, the person driving a work van using a computer….the list goes on and on….The Police need to do more things like this to get tickets out there so people maybe will think before doing something….I mean it was a 4 hour span and they gave out 23 tickets each what $100, 2 cops…in a economics profit business mind seems like the state police should do this everyday different areas of the state and start bringing in some money into the state by means of easy fines!!!!!! Then use some of that money to actually fix the roads we are driving on that have huge potholes!
Do all comments need to be approved by mod. before showing up here or what?
no only if you use certain words.
So much for the good ole’ element of surprise……
Unfortunately a lot of these people texting are women who are afraid of the van following them with the State Police.
They are well aware of the problem Driving While Female.
Moonbats Cain and Haskell are not.
So Maine will not get a volunteer civilian police review board with subpoena powers,eh?
NYPD Cop Arrested For Raping Woman At Gunpoint In Inwood
08/19/11
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/19/nypd-cop-arrested-for-rap_n_931674.html
DelCo police officer charged with rape
Friday, December 30, 2011http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/crime&id=8484157 Police Cadet Arrested On Rape Charges
January 25, 2012 12:55 PMhttp://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/01/25/former-police-cadet-arrested-on-rape-charges/
most people cant chew gum and walk at the same time much less text while driving! id rather share the road with a little old lady, with her dog on the dashboard than a high school kid on his or her cell phone searching for the next greatest APP! it doesnt help that people are more impatient behind the wheel now more than ever…
“GET OFF MY TAIL!! IM GOING 70!!!”
if you want people to stay off your tail stay OUT of the left lane.
another example of your rights being taken under the name of safety . These guys do not act as they say/ they are no different from any facist regime
Doesn’t it make more sense (and save $ in enforcement) to have the phone shut off when the GPS sensor is going more than 5 mph or so?
I’m sure passengers, bus riders, people on trains etc. would really appreciate that.
That would be good, but how could the phone determine whether you were a driver or passenger? Oops, scratch that. I just noticed that Ben Hutchins already mentioned that.
I agree that there should be no texting while driving, while it is distracting for ALL drivers it is more so for teenagers and young/new drivers, we have had enough loss of our younger generation, whether it be texting, speeding, or just plain silliness.
I dont understand why they have to keep mentioning Tracy Mcphee, im sure her family are upset enough over her accident, and dont want to keep seeing her name popping up everytime they write a piece on texting, she isnt the first to be killed while texting, as im sure she wont be the last, but i dont see any other names being mentioned!
I also agree that the police should NOT be permitted to text, surf the internet on their laptops, and make calls on their phones, this is distracting to EVERYONE no just the public people!
Agree on texting, disagree on a hands free device, if you can talk to a person in the car while driving then a hands free device is no difference or maybe even safer, how many times do you turn your head to talk to someone in the passenger’s seat or even the back seat, or turn to tell your kids to stop doing that. What about a CB, that was pretty popular in the 70s and we got along just fine chatting on those, what about turning the channel on the radio, putting in a new cd on the cd player,
checking the GPS?????
Oh i agree on the hands free, i actually have it in my vehicle, and your right it is no different then talking to someone thats sat in your car, i meant for those that actually hold the phone to their ear….GPS actually gives you a warning when first turning on, and asks you to agree not to us when your vehicle is in motion, but of course, people still do!
in a car there should be no phone ……,……………….
Yes no distracted driving. Then again if your a LE doing 95+ near Ellsworth no problem. If you operate school buses you do not have to use seat belts! If you ride a motor cycle you don’t have to wear a helmet! If you get caught OUI multiple times you can still drive in Maine. YEY staties…
You should be able to tell me to wear a helmet, like I should be able to tell you you can not drink or smoke, my head my decision, do you support the right for women to choose to have an abortion? I bet yes. the Right to Choose does not stop at the door of abortion.
How is wearing a seat belt any different from wearing a helmet? I can survive a car crash without a seat belt you are NOT going to survive a bike crash without a helmet. Why should i be forced to wear a seat belt but you not be forced to wear a helmet?
texting and talking on the phone while driving is and can be deadly so how about jammers up and down the highway problem solved
How can the police determine you are actually texting? For instance many people stream music through their phone, operating it similar to a radio or ipod. So basically now we have cops crusing up and down the interstate creeping on you they pass, but don’t you dare look their way for too long. Time to jack up the truck so they can’t look down on you and tint the windows. Also since it now takes two officers to run this genius operation the MSP just became half as efficient! Either they will need more staff or be in half as many places!
Hmmm, what could legally happen if Joe Citizen pulled over a cop who was texting / eating / using the phone or their computer? Wonder if anyone ever tried it before.
Oh, and I forgot … not wearing their seatbelt!
Spy vans and unmanned aerial surveillance drones…sure glad I don’t live in a police state where the cops are always looking for me…
I can’t believe there are people that think this is great ! So the hell with your rights ? What do you think causes more distraction….a tuna sandwich….or a State cop peering down at you from an unmarked van ? I don’t even know if those cops are real and I have a permit to carry concealed…..you see where this is going ? All so the police can get MORE of your money !!! You would think they would have more important issues….like maybe finding poor Ayla Reynolds, or stopping Florida firefighters from importing drugs into the State ?
What exactly is against the law? People talk about it being against the law to text. Ok, is talking on the phone texting? Is eating texting?
Probably didn’t need to tell people this.