“Cops call for cell phone crackdown”

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Cops call for cell phone crackdown Posted: 17 Sep 2010 08:11 PM PDT

Hold the phone next week, or pay the price. The Sonora Police Department, Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office and Jamestown office of the California Highway Patrol will join forces to crack down on drivers caught using cell phones without hands-free devices.      The "no tolerance" period will last two days — Tuesday and Wednesday — and is meant to deter people from calling without hands-free devices and texting while driving.        Although all three agencies enforce the law on a regular basis, officers working beats or responding to other emergency calls often must pass by cell phone offenders.     The CHP and SPD will devote two officers each solely to cell phone enforcement on those days.     "By dedicating officers to focus only on cell phones, we will make a large impact in the number of violations written," said CHP Officer Mike Remmel. "So often an officer is responding to another call, or have obligations and they can't stop and cite offenders."     A ticket for violating the cell phone law is an infraction which shows up on a person's driving record, although it is not counted as a point.     The first offense is a $20 ticket. The second is $50.     That amount is expected to rise as drivers become more familiar with the law.     Although the CHP office in San Andreas isn't part of the Central Valley CHP district, which includes the Jamestown office, it consistently cites drivers who break the law, said Officer Rebecca Myers.     "Our officers are out there at all times of the day looking for people who are talking on their phones and not using hands-free devices," she said.     According to 2008 statistics, 1,221 drivers involved in car accidents admitted that the accident was cell phone-related. It's one of the leading contributing factors to inattentive driving crashes in California, records show.

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