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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Posts
    3

    Default Ticket For Looking at Cell Phone While Driving

    My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: Pennsylvania.

    In early February I was driving home from my friends house in Philadelphia using one of the highways. While driving I felt my phone vibrate and out of habit I picked it up and unlocked it to see why it had vibrated. I was looking at it for 1 second at a time while I put in the 4 digits to unlock my phone (So a total of 4 seconds during a 10-15 second period; I was looking at the road when I was not typing in my password). I was then pulled over. The Philadelphia Police Officer who stopped me came to the window and told me that I had been pulled over for use of a handheld device while driving, which at the time was illegal only in Philadelphia. However, when the Officer came back and gave me my ticket, he had given me a "Reckless Driving" ticket for $298 instead of the normal $75 "Use of a handheld device while driving" ticket.

    I was not speeding, swerving between lanes, or doing anything else that would have warrented a citation other than looking at my phone for that brief period. Is there anything I can do to avoid the reckless driving charge which will come with 3 points on my license? I would not have any problems paying the $75 ticket since I know I was not supposed to be using it while driving in Philadelphia but I am concerned with the points and, what I consider obsurd, $300 ticket.

    I have proof from a printout of my cell phone usage that I was not making any phone calls or sending any text messages for 10 mintues prior to my ticket and 20 minutes after I got it.

    Is there anything that I can contest in this situation? Thanks in advance for any information!


    In Addition:
    I do not know if this means anything or can be useful fighting this but the date for my traffic hearing that the officer put down on the ticket was incorrect. The date he wrote down was for a Saturday, and the courthouse is not open on Saturdays. If I had not gotten online to check the courtroom I needed to go to, I would have shown up on the wrong day for my appearance.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Georgia
    Posts
    149

    Default Re: For Looking at Cell Phone While Driving in Philadelphia Pa

    Two things. One would actually hurt your argument that you were using the phone instead of driving recklessly. If the cell phone record indicates that you had not sent or received any calls 10 minutes before the stop and 20 minutes after, then it goes against your argument that you should have been charged with using the handheld device. That evidence alone shows no phone use for that 30 minute period - the time in which the traffic stop took place.

    Bring THAT to the Court's attention, and you make the Commonwealth's case for them.

    The second thing - a court date error on the ticket doesn't amount to egregious error upon which a citation can be dismissed.

    No offense here, but from the outside looking in, your "evidence" won't support your argument.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Posts
    3

    Default Re: For Looking at Cell Phone While Driving in Philadelphia Pa

    Thank you for your response Riply.

    If my "evidence" would make the case for the commonwealth that I should not have been charged with use of a handheld device, then why would I have gotten a ticket for Reckless Driving since the Officer stated that he pulled me over for using my handheld device? Sorry if I am not understanding your point, I just dont see how my "evidence", since it would show that I shouldnt have gotten a handheld device ticket since I was not on my phone, would also not obslove me of the reckless driving ticket?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Georgia
    Posts
    149

    Default Re: For Looking at Cell Phone While Driving in Philadelphia Pa

    Because the officer says you were driving recklessly (by the citation he issued you). If you had actually been charged with using a handheld device, then your cell phone records would support a defense for THAT charge because there was no use of the device in that 30 minutes. The problem is, you weren't charged with that.

    Your only chance of challenging the reckless driving charge would be to subpoena the dash-cam footage (video and audio) that might show the officer telling you that he pulled you over for using a hand-held device and yet charging you differently. If the officer can be heard saying that and yet charged you with reckless driving, the charge may not stand.

    To do the above, you'd pretty much have to bind the case over to trial. And for that, you'd need the services of an attorney (either private, or public defender).

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