Last updated April 12, 2019
Drivers who use their new or old cell phone while driving a motor vehicle in or around Woodinville in the United States are on notice – you will be caught. That is the message from Washington State Patrol Chief John R Batiste, who says that since the law against using a cell phone while driving a motor vehicle became a primary offence in the June of last year, Washington State Troopers have caught no less than 6,850 drivers who have used cell phones while behind the wheel. Before June last year, it was merely a secondary offence, but since the upgrade, drivers can now be pulled over by police for no other reason than using their cell phone while driving. The new law has increased the number of people given tickets from just 1,344 in the 11 months prior to June last year, to almost 7,000 in the 11 months since.
“The legislature gave us this law, and our troopers have made good use of it,” says Chief Batiste. “We believe that distracted driving is a factor in far more collisions than we know about, and we are determined to address that.” Tickets for drivers who used cell phones for texting have also gone up from 225 to more than double that number at 549, though Batiste notes that that is much harder to spot. “People need to voluntarily refrain from this very dangerous behavior.”