A refresher on Washington’s distracted driving law
Jan 4, 2018, 5:41 AM | Updated: 5:50 am
(AP)
(AP)
You can’t drive for more than 30 seconds without seeing someone violating the state’s nearly six-month-old distracted driving law, and with the Washington State Patrol now ticketing drivers in earnest, it’s time for a refresher course.
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The state patrol was going to give a six-month grace period, but it ended that about a month early. Troopers are now handing out tickets more frequently. They were handing them out during the grace period, but only for egregious cases.
Senior Trooper Rick Johnson said it’s not hard to find violators.
“We just want to make sure that everybody is aware, now, that we are going to be enforcing this with infractions and not just warnings anymore,” he said.
The law is simple. It states drivers cannot have a phone or other electronic device in your hand at all unless you are making an emergency call.
The penalty is $136 for a first offense.
“It is a primary violation, which means we can stop you for that,” Trooper Johnson said. “We don’t need any other violation to stop you.”
If your phone is mounted on your window or on your dash, you get one swipe to activate your hands-free function, though Trooper Johnson said it will be hard to judge that.
“We’re not going to be driving alongside somebody, and I see you tap the phone and sit there and start a stopwatch,” he said. “We are going to be stopping the drivers that are attracting our attention because of their driving and their distraction.”
Distracted driving beyond your smartphone
There are other distractions that play into the law as well, such as eating, putting on makeup, dealing with your kids, your pets or your music. But unlike the smartphone offense, you cannot be pulled over just for these actions. If you commit another offense because of those distractions, like weaving out of your lane, you will be pulled over. You will likely be ticketed for failing to control your car and probably get hit with a $99 distracted driving penalty.
“Part of what this law does is to try to bring to the forefront in people’s minds that there are more than just the electronic devices to distract us,” Trooper Johnson said.
