Some threads ago I remember someone posting about the use of cell phones and I remember lambasting their frequency of use commenting that my only reason for having a cell phone is so that my ailing, aging mother can contact me in case of an emergency and to be used in the prospect of vehicular trouble on the road. Well, you can imagine my chagrin when today, while driving home from work, I was pulled over and issued a traffic ticket for talking on the cell phone while driving! What really gets my goat is that I wasn’t!

The scenario:

I’m driving home from work and it’s about 3:00 PM.

I stop for a light and when it changes I move on.

Suddenly behind me I see a patrol squad car with flashing lights.

Thinking they need to pass me on the left, I pull over to the curve.

I then realized they where pulling over behind me and I could not understand what the reason for that was.

Two police officers approach my car as I rolled down my windows. The officer on the passenger side who gets there first signals me to talk to the officer on my side. He says, I pulled you over for talking on your cell phone. I said: “Cell phone?” then realizing the situation I said: I wasn’t” he then abruptly asked for my license, registration and insurance card.

They both go back to the patrol car and immerge moments later handing me back my documents and a traffic summons. When I tried to tell him I wasn’t speaking on my cell phone he simply said: “Just follow the directions on the back of the summons” and walked away.

I’m now wondering what to do about this miscarriage of justice and further wondered that this being a moving traffic violation, how would that affect my insurance premiums? Upon getting home I realized that the ticket incurred a $40 fine plus a $50 surcharge, $90 in all! I called my insurance lizard (Geico) in trying to determine what effect this summons would have on my driving record. She tells me that I’m a “preferred, safe” policy holder and that at present it would have no affect on my premiums but that there is no telling how future policy guidelines will change saying that since it is a hand handed summons it will go directly onto my driving record and suggested I call the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) and see that if I decided to fight the violation and win, would it come off my driving record. Further, the insurance company reviews all driver’s records going back 5 years to make their determinations.

Calling DMV tells me that it will definitely go on my driving record but if I should win (plea not guilty and win), it would indicate not guilty. This is all fine and dandy but in order to plea not guilty requires that I be present in court and therefore loss a full day’s wages which are considerably more than the fine! And assuming I can’t win my case since there where two police officers in the car, I will then be fined for the amount of the summons and loss a days wages on top of it…big loss for me.

I then called my cell phone provider and asked if I can get a record of the day’s incoming and outgoing calls on my cell phone and he proceeded to say that for a $20 charge I can have a detailed printout of the last 45 days of service both incoming and outgoing…what a racket! While talking with him he said that there is no way I can prove that I don’t have more than one cell phone service provider. It then ocurred to me that I can wait and mail my not guilty plea and wait until they send me a hearing date and time and hope that by then I would have received my regular detailed cell phone bill.

This is what I think happened from the police officer’s perspective: I often place the elbow of my left arm to rest on the window panel (in the U.S.A. we drive on the left side of the vehicle as seen from within the car) and rest my head on my hand while waiting for a light…an action I do all the time. I think that they, viewing my silhouette from the rear, thought I was putting a cell phone to my ear. 

I have 15 days in which to submit my plea, how would you plea, guilty or not guilty, would you fight it and loss a day’s wages or possibly have your insurance premiums raised?

*if you write even smaller we need a microscope to read it ..so i took not even the time ..sorry 

call the attorney general's office. 
Don't know if that will help but damn ! It pisses me off when this kind of crap happens. They bank on you not having the money or the means to fight them either. I wonder if there are other complaints of this nature or if they only made this mistake once.
HUGS
Ang

ps I'll call you on the land line tonight ;P

Um yeah, I had to squint and lean my head back and even bitched out loud about how small the font was. But I just assume I have bad eyes, LOL.

Quest, I would fight it. I personally would get the cell phone records and even driving records as I have had no violations. That would apply to my test of character. I would request the police video also and if it shows it, to show there's no cell phone visible in the video. I would get a lawyer to help advise actions to take once I get off the hook from the ticket. I would attempt to recover loss wages, if possible, loss of work time in seeking these records, and for any medical stress I can toss in there b/c if I am innocent, why should I have to undergo all that worry and stress and all that. There's probably something about intimidation....

What I would worry about would be what gets into my record. Because if I'm innocent now, and the same thing happens in the future, my second defense would be tarnished by the previous record. So I would fight it. That's what I would do.

Now.... the disclaimer: this is not legal advice, it's just what I would do.

hrm.... The font was small?

Try this...

Some threads ago I remember someone posting about the use of cell phones and I remember lambasting their frequency of use commenting that my only reason for having a cell phone is so that my ailing, aging mother can contact me in case of an emergency and to be used in the prospect of vehicular trouble on the road. Well, you can imagine my chagrin when today, while driving home from work, I was pulled over and issued a traffic ticket for talking on the cell phone while driving! What really gets my goat is that I wasn’t!

The scenario:

I’m driving home from work and it’s about 3:00 PM.

I stop for a light and when it changes I move on.

Suddenly behind me I see a patrol squad car with flashing lights.

Thinking they need to pass me on the left, I pull over to the curve.

I then realized they where pulling over behind me and I could not understand what the reason for that was.

Two police officers approach my car as I rolled down my windows. The officer on the passenger side who gets there first signals me to talk to the officer on my side. He says, I pulled you over for talking on your cell phone. I said: “Cell phone?” then realizing the situation I said: I wasn’t” he then abruptly asked for my license, registration and insurance card.

They both go back to the patrol car and immerge moments later handing me back my documents and a traffic summons. When I tried to tell him I wasn’t speaking on my cell phone he simply said: “Just follow the directions on the back of the summons” and walked away.

I’m now wondering what to do about this miscarriage of justice and further wondered that this being a moving traffic violation, how would that affect my insurance premiums? Upon getting home I realized that the ticket incurred a $40 fine plus a $50 surcharge, $90 in all! I called my insurance lizard (Geico) in trying to determine what effect this summons would have on my driving record. She tells me that I’m a “preferred, safe” policy holder and that at present it would have no affect on my premiums but that there is no telling how future policy guidelines will change saying that since it is a hand handed summons it will go directly onto my driving record and suggested I call the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) and see that if I decided to fight the violation and win, would it come off my driving record. Further, the insurance company reviews all driver’s records going back 5 years to make their determinations.

Calling DMV tells me that it will definitely go on my driving record but if I should win (plea not guilty and win), it would indicate not guilty. This is all fine and dandy but in order to plea not guilty requires that I be present in court and therefore loss a full day’s wages which are considerably more than the fine! And assuming I can’t win my case since there where two police officers in the car, I will then be fined for the amount of the summons and loss a days wages on top of it…big loss for me.

I then called my cell phone provider and asked if I can get a record of the day’s incoming and outgoing calls on my cell phone and he proceeded to say that for a $20 charge I can have a detailed printout of the last 45 days of service both incoming and outgoing…what a racket! While talking with him he said that there is no way I can prove that I don’t have more than one cell phone service provider. It then ocurred to me that I can wait and mail my not guilty plea and wait until they send me a hearing date and time and hope that by then I would have received my regular detailed cell phone bill.

This is what I think happened from the police officer’s perspective: I often place the elbow of my left arm to rest on the window panel (in the U.S.A. we drive on the left side of the vehicle as seen from within the car) and rest my head on my hand while waiting for a light…an action I do all the time. I think that they, viewing my silhouette from the rear, thought I was putting a cell phone to my ear. 

I have 15 days in which to submit my plea, how would you plea, guilty or not guilty, would you fight it and loss a day’s wages or possibly have your insurance premiums raised

Fight it. You have a good case and the phone records can prove it. More to the point the officers have to prove that you WERE using the phone. If they can't, they're in big trouble. They also have to prove that you have more than one phone. 

Curiously, as of today the police are coming down hard in the UK on drivers using their phones while driving. It's £60 sterling and 3 points on your license if you're caught. (12 points and you lose your license) 
I personnly take issue with drivers using their phones while driving. it's bloody dangerous and we're getting to the stage over here where it is becoming socially unacceptable to do this and I expect that we'll have a 'GET OFF THE PHONE' campagne(SS) pretty soon. I always feel like yelling this at guilty drivers now.

However, getting back to your incident, I can see this happening more and more as the cops realise that they can meet their arrest targets by hitting on drivers with false accusations. In the UK the car-owner is considered an easy target by the governement. We are taxed to the hilt by them in the name of road-safety, congestion and pollution. Our speed cameras are nothing but money-making machines under the name of 'SPEED KILLS' when in fact speed is the factor in only about 10% of all road deaths.

Take this one to court and set a preceedent for all those wrongfully accused drivers to come.
Good luck!

Well I'm not sure if it's a comforting thought but at least th epolice forces on both sides of the pond are the same - not interested in catching REAL criminals, just picking on innocent motorists in a bid to top up their Christmas party fund

I wonder how many muggings/shootings/assaults they missed while they were trying to pin this on you.......

I'm not sure of the procedure in your state, but in North Carolina there is a plea called "prayer for judgement"  A judge has the option to allow the plea and you pay the fine.  There is no entry made to your record and no insurance ramifications ....unless... you have another violation within 3 years.  If you do, your prayer for judgement plea on the preceding case becomes a guilty plea and the records are adjusted to show the infraction. 

If you are not guily of the infraction and feel like a day in court, fight it.  The video thing would be great if the squad car had one.

a DWD? 

yeah, if the hard copy of your phone record does not show you on the phone at the time of the supposed infraction you got 'em.

LOL…damn! I didn’t realize that you guys see my font as small since I see it just right on my screen. Very sorry about that and in the future I will try to keep things legible, BTW, Bryster, thanks for amplifying. 

I’ve decided to fight it. The more I think about it and talk to people about it the more odd it seems that they (the police officers) did not even ask me if I owned a cell phone. They had no idea whether or not I had one in the vehicle with me, they didn’t search me or the vehicle. I think this will be part of my presentation to the judge. Imagine how they would be beside themselves IF it turned out I didn’t even own a cell phone. Furthermore, I’m holding on to last months bill since I usually shred them after payment and this would show how very little I use my cell phone, last month only 4 times and my longest call was 3 minutes long despite the free 250 anytime minutes and 250 weekend minutes. So far this month, it will be one call tomorrow to cancel my tax accountant appointment and it will be from work.

Imagine the police just hammering you without account for talking on your cell phone even if you didn’t own one? And what’s worst is feeling obligated to pay the hefty fine even if you didn’t do the crime. BEAUACRACY and the middle class, the state’s cash cow!

Attached Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6401651.stm

Attached Link: http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id=7272457

I'd fight it.  The police have to prove "beyond reasonable doubt" that you were on the phone, I think the fact that they didn't ask to see your phone and you have no record of the call on your bill should be enough to give reasonable doubt.

I'm with Orbital (especially as I ride a motorbike) with the police coming down hard on this but they have to at least make sure you have a phone with you before they book you for it.

Yup ... fight it.  If the police didn't even bother to look and see if you had a cell phone, well ... that was stupid of them.

Generally (not positive about your state, but generally), if you plead not guilty, the police also have to show up at the hearing and testify as to what they observed that made them write the ticket.  If all that they observed was that you had one hand up near your ear ... then that's all they are going to have to support their case.  More than likely ... since that's all they have, they might not even show up, in which case the whole thing will be dismissed.

Brilliant idea to take your cell phone records, which would show that no calls were made or received during the time around the issuance of the ticket.  That's all that is really key .... not how many calls you make, but given the time of the ticket, were you on the phone at that time or just before? If not, then you have a defense if the cops decide to lie on the stand.

As someone mentioned, if they decide to argue that you could have more than one cell phone provider, it is up to them not only to prove that you do, but also that you were on the phone through that provider at the time of the ticket.  All you have to do is testify that this is your only provider and that you were NOT on the phone at the time or before the time that the ticket is dated and timed.

If they don't prove their case, then you win.  If you don't fight it ... you lose automatically.  Your case would be very difficult to prove, and my thought is that the cops are not going to bother to show up .... as noted, that should lead to an automatic dismissal.  But ... again, on the off chance that they show up ... have your evidence in hand.  They won't expect that and it will bolster the fact of our innocence.

Oh, and yes .... I have noticed for a LONG time that your font is teeeeeny tiny.  I always end up with my nose right up to the screen so that I can read it.  But, your posts are always worth reading. 

If the cops don't turn up at court, have them sopeanoed(SS) Sue for wrongful arrest, and anything else you can think of. Then go to the media, the newspapers, the radio.

Funny, I thought cops in the USA were supposed to 'Protect & serve'.

BTW, how does Ang feel about dating a criminal? ;-)

yeah, we have 'prayer for judgement continued' here, but I seem to remember that it's a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity (if I'm wrong, I'd love to be)

The kicker with this (and all other traffic stops), is to get you to say 'yes', to  whatever charge they're looking at. The famous 'do you know how fast you were going?', if given a 'yes', makes you 'guilty'. Can't hurt to say 'no', you might get off with a warning. Having the perp admit to the charge is what they're looking for.

But can't sue for wrongful arrest... Quest wasn't arrested. But it seems to me something along the line of police intimidation could be a possible approach.

OK .... right, no wrongful arrest because no arrest.  Police intimidation isn't really a cause of action (anywhere I know of), plus, in order to be intimidated Quest would need to actually be intimidated ... and do something that he wouldn't have done otherwise.

Like I said .... take it to court.  Have your cell phone bill with you as well as the date and time of the ticket.  If they don't show, the matter will normally be dropped.  If they show and say that they "saw" you using a cell phone (which we know is not true), then produce your bill and the ticket.

I would also (respectfully) explain to the court that (1) you did not even have your cell phone with you (if that is true), or that it was not on .... whatever the truth is ... that you were not using it (2) that the police never even asked you to produce the phone (which wasn't in the car), and that (3) the ticket which you never deserved cost you _____  in lost wages (and whatever else it is legitimately costing you), and (4) that you would appreciate knowing if anyone at the city level reimburses people when the police decide to pass out unwarranted tickets (the answer is probably going to be "no" .... but as long as you are respectful to the court, it never hurts to ask.)

Bryster - he wasn't arrested only issued a ticket. I've gotten a ticket visiting him in NYC, am I a criminal? Especially since I plead not guilty and they told me I was and that I had to pay grrrrr. That's a whole nother scenario. They put a ticket on my car saying I was driving an unregister car. I wasn't so I pled not guilty and they turned around and called it "registration not displayed" bam guilty. If they'd just put that on the ticket in the first place I'd have had to pay no contest. Stupid idiots wasted my time.
Sorry while I'm on my soap box and thread hijacking, I just got back from having my taxes done. My total income is less than 40k a year and guess what, I found out the hard way that if you owe the feds over $1000 in taxes (not paid in to them during the course of the year) that they tack on another $28 penalty fee. Geez, ya think that I might not be paying them all year long cause I'm kind of strapped for money? and they want another 28 dollars because of this? What an idiotic government. I feel like they are pickpocketing the common folk with these bogus charges, tickets, penalties etc.

Ang - He broke the LAW..........maybe..........;-) Just yanking your chain.....

We got a problem over here with what they call 'Community Charge', what everyone else calls 'Poll Tax'.  It's supposed to pay for Councils, ambulances, street lighting..etc

Well they just jacked it up another 4.1%    The thing is, those of us on fixed income, pensioners, disabled etc can't pay and there's no recognition that if they hike up the taxes where are we gonna get the extra money from?

Put if you don't pay you go straight to prison and when you come out of prison you still have the bill you didn't pay. So right now we have pensioners saying, "Screw you! We'll go to jail and you can pick up the bill."

I would fight it as well.  Somebody has to stand up.  We vote that it is Quest.

I smell a world wide revolution coming on!!  Viva la Quest.  Boston Tea Party.    OOps now we are all on someone's watch list.   I'm kidding, sirs, in suits and aviator glasses.  Take Quest, he started it all.   no, no take Bryster.... here is his address,  it is on Mars.... really.   I was forced to type this... really.....       Yes, our leader really is Agent Smith.  ...    could you turn down that light bulb a little....    oowww.. that hurt. 

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement, I really appreciate it. Thanks to Erosiaart for taking the time to research that article on how the UK was increasing their penalty charges for those caught talking on their cell phones. I too feel that strict enforcement of the law is necessary and applaud the measures being taken on both sides of the pond to curtail the use of cell phones while driving without hands-free remotes.

To Orbital I would like to express thanks for sharing the hair-raising experience his wife endured in that tragic accident. Experiences like that makes one think twice about how lucky they really are and how important it is to enforce these laws. I hope that she has managed to find some measure of relief from that traumatic experience and I happy that she was not hurt in that affair.

Ricky, thanks for your insight (knowing you’re a lawyer), it helps to shape a defense even if it is a different state. To be clear what I said was that they did not ask to see my cell phone, which on hindsight means that the police officer actually believed he saw me talking on the cell phone and therefore did not need to see my cell phone. I later thought: what would the court say if in fact I didn’t own a cell phone at the time of the summons? I indeed did have a cell phone on me but it was tucked well out of the way, clipped onto my belt over my back pants pocket and layered by a sweat shirt and a jacket and would have been very difficult to reach especially while seat belted into my seat.

Death_at_midnight, interesting, I haven’t thought about the fact that if the patrol car would even have a video camera attached, how would this effect my defense? Would the video simply show a silhouette?

There is one thing I would like to make clear, I become infuriated when I see other drivers being distracted by doing other things other than driving when they’re supposed to be focused on their driving and talking on their cell phone especially really gets my goat. I view cell phones as a necessity which is often abused at the expense of others, be it at restaurants while other people are trying to dine peacefully, at special and private events you often get the idiotic ring tones and of course while driving. As I mentioned, I applaud tough law enforcement to limit accidents and deaths. As Ang25 could attest to, I specifically bought a Bluetooth remote earpiece for when I go on those occasional long distance drives such as to visit with her or my sister-in-law out in New Jersey so that it would provide hands-free control cell phone chatter.

Anyway, thanks to all, even those that want to throw me to the dogs, and I’ll let you know what happens as it gets down to crunch time.

Ang, They banged you for more money? I learned that a few years ago, they let nothing sly. I think it’s time for another Tea Party (with all due respect to our friends across the pond) in this country since it seems they have forgotten why we went independent and I don’t rightly care if it’s in Boston or anywhere else for that matter. What exactly did this government do prior to collecting taxes in 1931?

" What exactly did this government do prior to collecting taxes in 1931?"

They hung people for using mobile phones while driving!  :lol:

I am totally opposed to mobile phones. Even more so in cars.

Two years a go my wife was taking a friend to work. They were stopped waiting for traffic before turning into a side street. An idiot using a mobile phone texting hit them so hard it wrote off our car. 

Just a little stat for any body interested. 97% of all phone calls are made by women, and 95% of those calls are made by women between the ages of 15 and 25. 

Also the average woman will make more calls in 2 weeks than the average guy will make in 10 years. 

NOTE: I am not making any judgement about gender just stating some interesting facts.

You might also check to see if the phone record needs to be noterized before you go to court . Some states like Ari-zonie and in some cases Cali-phone-ya want things noterized. 

Oh Thanks BM ! I'll make a note of that! ;-)

For those following this legal case I’ve received my hearing date:

Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 10:30AM.

I’ve spoken to some friends at work about this and some express a concern that the officer who gave me the summons may not show…which I don’t want to happen for possible insurance reasons…and what’s worst is that the court can further postpone the hearing and have me come back at a later date and therefore I would loss 2 work day wages! What’s worst even is that I can’t sue to get those lost wages back! I’ll keep you posted.

On top of everything else, the hearing letter states that if I don’t show up for the hearing, my license will be suspended and I would have to pay a suspension fee and the summons’s fee and the surcharge even if I’m found to be not guilty! That's $35+$40+$50=$125! I wonder what the police officer has to pay if he doesn’t show?

If the officer doesn't show, and if you have records showing you were not on the phone at the time of the ticket .... they should drop the charges.

Where I come from, if the officer who wrote your ticket does not show, then you win by default.

if he don't show, move to have throwm it out Something about facing your accusers ??

but then I only stir the pot "Boil,boil toil and trouble who wants to sue Baney Rubble??" You could do the prudent thing and just let it go - after all it isn't called Juris Prudence for nothing (them lawyers get paid a lot.).

man I didn't see them other two posts til I replied but then I'm working on the word throwm ....  wonder what I meant ?  Hmmm could I have Mad Cow ???

If you are representing yourself,  you will need to stand up and ask the judge to dismiss the case.   They usually do not do it automatically because the system is fed by the fines it collects.  I once sat and waited for my officer to show while folks all around me were having charges dismissed because their lawyers stood up and asked the judge to dismiss them.

First, thank you all for responding to this thread, I appreciate all the feedback. From logging onto the DMV site for my state and city here in New York it describes that as part of my options I can question the issuing police officer. I’m just not court savvy enough to question the officer without offending the court but I’ll surely try my best not to offend and show total respect for the court.

My hearing has been set for Tuesday, May 22 at 10:30 A.M. which means that I’ll have to lose a day’s pay from work which far surpasses the fine and surcharge pending for the summons. Not only that…the letter I received states that if I fail to appear, regardless if I’m found not guilty later on, they will not only charge me the fine and surcharge but the court will suspend my license and on top of everything else I will incur a suspension fee of $35 dollars. So already I feel as though the system is stacked against me. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? I’ve been pondering how I can present to the court the loss which I’m sustaining by losing a day’s wages in order to defend myself for something I’m not guilty of. Any suggestions to this end would definitely be appreciated.

After speaking to my insurance representative who assures me that this summons will definitely be put on my driving record which they (insurance companies) rely on to determine future policy renewal premiums and further stated that a court find of “dismissed” would be understood as the case was not brought to term for one reason or another and therefore see this as an insurer’s liability opening the insurer to higher premium rates in the future. I would much rather want the issuing officer to be present at the hearing so that my driving record would show that I was found “Not guilty” (hopefully!). That then would not leave any question open to future insurance companies about my culpability in this case and not use this episode to raise my premium rates.

If you get to question the cop, make sure you sit him in a Comfy-Chair. He'll confess - they always do........hehehe!
Ask him what he had for breakfast that day. If he can't tell you, it's a sure sign that his memory isn't that good. And if/when you win the case....sue the cop for your salary, then sue the city, the state, your insurers, the police union, your mother-in-law..........Oh and sue the mobile phone company and anyone else who doesn't use Bryce........er......

(Seriously - Good Luck with this. )

I am revising this thread in order to bring everyone up to date all those people who have so cordially responded on this case. Today, Tuesday, May 22, I was summoned to appear in front of a judge to answer to this cell phone summons I had been given back on February 27 of this year.

I’m happy to say that I was found Not Guilty! The whole process evolving through these previous few months proofed to…at the end to be disappointing and anticlimactic. I had gotten up early this morning to write a dissertation explaining the run-up to the summons and why the summons was inappropriate. My entire presence in front of the court was almost certainly less than a minute, not allowing me time to extract compensation from the court for time lost this day from work.

The judge simply asked me to swear all I would say was to be the truth and looking him dead in the eyes I said: “yes” and after the police officer made his accusation the judge asked if I was ready for this case and I said: “Yes sir”, while pulling out the cell phone invoice and seeing that the police officer was nervously trying to see what information I had in front of me to present the court, the judge simply said to me please move over to the clerk.

Expecting to say something on my behalf I was a little perturbed and confused so I asked the judge to repeat his statement and he did, and when I moved to the clerk she handed me an 8x11 piece of paper and I asked: “what is this?” She simply said Not Guilty! And to think I was ready and willing to yell out “injustice” (I had brought bail money with me…just incase).

During the interim I heard the police officer make some comments and the judge said: “don’t even try it” So, I’m at a lose as to what happened but a great win after all. So I was rushed out of the court even before I could know what was happening and I was unable to ask for work wage restitution. But my foreman had asked that I call him after the hearing and he assured me when I did today that I was paid for the day.

Thank you all for your support!

WOOT !   Now did you go out and buy that winning lottery ticket yet?

I believe in chance, I don't believe in luck! Of all the people I know, you have been by my side and I love you the most, thank you Sweet pea! :)

:b_blush:

Outstanding! Congratulations on your good fortune! 

I take back all I said about Ang dating a criminal! :lol:

BTW, I have a couple of parking tickets......could you fix them for me?

Congrats!

I wonder if the judge is accustomed to this particular officer (or even all of them as a group) trying to "meet his quota" by issuing false cell phone tickets?  That might explain both why the case was resolved so fast, and the "don't even try it" comment to the officer.

Anyway, congrats and well done!

and you didn't even get to shout out "OBJECTION!"  for no apparant reason.  I'd love that.

Glad it sorted, just a shame you're out of pocket, but at least you're not on the 100 most wanted anymore.  I guess you could push the point and take the cop to court, but why bother.

Personally, I don't answer my phone in the car. If it's that important, they can ring back.   My company added something to our contract that we can get fired if we call work from a cell while driving.  But I didn't actually realise it was illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving in the US.  Maybe different states, different laws.   Off to google it.

my dad was saying in the UK you can't even talk on a cell in a stationary car if the engine is on.

edit - As of January it was illegal in AZ, CA, FA, IL, MA, MI, NJ, OH, OK, OR and RI but not Indiana yet (where I live).   They're always behind the times though.  Only just started going to daylight savings.

*my dad was saying in the UK you can't even talk on a cell in a stationary car if the engine is on.
*Which is pathetic, but you should see the morons still using their phones while in motion....I keep yelling at them to get off the phone.

yeah, if I'm in my car and following someone who's on their cell, I get out my phone and call the police and report them, which is actually legal.

If the car is parked, but the engine is on you will be ok, but if you move or show intent to move you'll be slapped!

Congratulations!