Time's up -- State Patrol prepares to issue citations for texting while driving

By Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The grace period is up.

No more second, third or fourth chances.

On Sunday, the Georgia State Patrol will begin ticketing people caught texting while driving; even people stopped at a light or waiting in a turn lane.

A month after the statewide anti-texting and driving law took effect on July 1, troopers will “start actual true enforcement,” and a citation will cost $150, according to the GSP.

Officers are only now starting to enforce the law because the Georgia Department of Public Safety made the “administrative decision” to wait a month  to allow for an adjustment.

People should know by now, trooper Larry Schnall said.

“The public safety awareness has been out there. It’s been well publicized,” Schnall said.

The law applies to all drivers -- not just teenagers -- and an officer can make a stop even if no other traffic offense is committed.

When the legislature was considering the new law, there was a lot of debate about how it would be enforced. Adults -- but not teenagers -- can still talk on cellphones while driving, and some lawmakers, including the governor, said it might be hard for an officer to tell the difference between dialing a number and texting.

“It’s just simply going to be an officer’s discretion,” said Schnall, who patrols metro Atlanta interstates.

He said it will be much like enforcing the state’s seat belt law. Schnall said it doesn’t matter if the driver puts on the seat belt as the officer walks to the car as long there didn't appear to be a seat belt in use while the car was moving.

In the case of texting, Schnall said, if “someone has got a cellphone in their hand and they’re looking forward and down and forward and down,” they most likely are texting.

Another sign would be a sober driver weaving and driving erratically.

“As with many accidents, people don’t think it will happen to them,” Schnall said. “When we respond to accidents and people are hurt ... it’s not uncommon to see a cellphone on the floor with the flip open or the slide open.”