GREENFIELD — Within a few months of a change in state law that made it illegal to text behind the wheel, local law enforcement officers issued two tickets to drivers caught breaking the rule intended to thwart distracted driving.
That was more than three years ago. They haven’t written a ticket since.
For a behavior experts say is as dangerous as drunken driving, the scarcity of enforcement since the law took effect July 1, 2011, seems shocking. But public safety officials say the law has a major flaw: It is nearly impossible to enforce.
The problem is that while the change in the Indiana code made it illegal for motorists to text or email while driving, it stopped short of allowing officers to check drivers’ phones for compliance.
Enforcement ground to a halt almost as quickly as it started as officers realized their hands were tied when it came to proving anyone they stopped for texting was actually doing so.
That’s frustrating for officers who pull over distracted drivers who clearly aren’t watching the road, Fortville Patrol Officer Matt Fox said.
Fox, one of just two local officers to have written a ticket for texting and driving since the law was enacted, said he only managed to ticket an offender because the driver admitted what he was doing.
A fellow motorist had called 911 to report what looked like a drunken driver. The man was swerving all over the road.
“He wasn’t impaired; he told me he was on his phone,” Fox said. “He didn’t know the law had changed.”
But drivers have gotten smarter since then.
Not only do they know the law; they know its limits.
“They don’t want to say if they were texting while driving. They could say, ‘I was updating my Facebook account,’ ” Fox said.
And that is where the conversation ends in most cases. Officers may ticket a person for unsafe lane movement or other violations if they choose, but without a confession, they can’t ticket a person for irresponsible phone use behind the wheel.
“This is a statute that very much illustrates that lying can get you out of your legal obligation,” Prosecutor Michael Griffin said. “The way the statute is written, the officer is forced to accept the lie. Every time that person lies, that person will get out of a ticket.”
Rep. Bob Cherry, R-Greenfield, said legislators took a step in the right direction by drafting the law banning texting while driving, but they also recognize the statute’s limitations.
“They know it needs to be changed,” he said. “People are risking their lives every day.”
Cherry said he would support legislation to update the law, but he expects change will come only if there is significant pressure from constituents.
Police say there is little difference between the driving behavior exhibited by a texter and a drunk driver. A distracted driver will swerve, cross the center line and go off the edge of the road like one who is under the influence.
“You’re essentially an impaired driver,” Chief Deputy Prosecutor Tami Napier said. “All studies have shown that if you’re texting while driving, you’re driving in the same manner that a person who is intoxicated (does).”
Fox remembers stopping a driver for weaving, and the driver admitted he was on his cellphone. He was searching the Internet for car parts for his vehicle.
While irresponsible, the behavior wasn’t illegal.
Fox delivered a stern warning and told the driver he was putting himself and others on the road at risk.
“He agreed and said he wouldn’t do it anymore,” Fox said. “Hopefully, he took it to heart how big of a danger that is.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which compiles statistics on distracted driving, sending a text takes a driver’s eyes off the road for an average of five seconds. At 55 mph, that’s the equivalent of driving the length of a football field, blindfolded.
But even driving at a slow speed doesn’t diminish the danger of being distracted in the driver’s seat, Griffin pointed out.
“If you’re driving 20 miles per hour through a residential neighborhood and texting, thinking it’s OK, you’re ignoring the possibility that a child will chase a ball into the street,” he said. “It’s an extremely dangerous behavior.”
The traffic safety administration estimates that at any given daylight moment in America, 660,000 drivers are using their cellphone while driving.
And those drivers are three times more likely to get into an accident.
Fox said when he stops a driver he suspects is texting, he tries to educate them on the danger, even in cases when he can’t write a ticket.
What’s difficult to make people understand is that not every behavior, even if legal, is responsible.
“They’re very dangerous to the public when they’re messing with their phones and not concentrating on driving,” Fox said.
Fortville Police Department Lt. Patrick Bratton said he expects the majority of tickets written for minor driving infractions today derive from phone use, legal or otherwise.
He would like to see the law changed to outlaw phone use entirely, with the exception being that a person is calling 911 to report an emergency.
“That way, if I drive down the road, and I see somebody with a phone in their hand, I can enforce that,” he said, noting a driver’s claim to have been dialing 911 could be confirmed with the dispatch center. “Everything else needs to be hands-free.”
Griffin said he isn’t surprised the courts haven’t seen more tickets for texting, despite how common the practice is among drivers.
But without a driver admitting to texting while driving, the case simply can’t hold up in court.
“I think this statute is very ripe for amendment,” he said. “It was stated so specifically that it painted police officers into a corner, and you have to ask yourself, if you were a police officer, would you spend time trying to enforce this statute?”