Tennessee Text Ban Nets Few Citations

Posted & filed under Auto Safety, distracted driving, Tennessee Car Insurance.

It’s been a year since the ban on texting while driving in Tennessee went into effect, but according to law enforcement officers, surprisingly few tickets are being written for that infraction.

After the statute went into effect last July, the Tennessee Highway Patrol allowed a six-month grace period before they began enforcing the ban on January 3rd of this year, says Tennessee Department of Safety spokeswoman Dalya Qualls. Officers are now allowed to write tickets to drivers whom are caught texting while driving, and those tickets come with a fine of $50, but so far, only 88 such citations have been issued by state troopers and a mere 19 by Metro Nashville Police.

According to an article in the Insurance Journal, Knoxville and Chattanooga law enforcement officers say they haven’t issued any citations under the statute, and it’s not clear whether or not any have been issued in Memphis.

Memphis police officer Karen Rudolph, spokeswoman for her department, explained, “The officer would have to witness the violation and the violator would have to admit that they were actually texting before a citation is issued.”

Despite this ambiguity, drivers who text behind the wheel should still worry about being caught. Knoxville police, for example, write tickets under an older statute that refers to any kind of distraction while driving. Explains Darrell DeBusk, “It’s anything that would take your attention away from driving and that would include texting.” He also said that enforcement is based on observation, such as vehicles being driven erratically.

When asked why the the Chattanooga city police department hasn’t cited any drivers, Sgt. Jerri Weary replied, “They [drivers] haven’t admitted that is what they were doing or we would have to be able to prove it.”

State Rep. Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, an early proponent of the ban on texting behind the wheel, said the fine isn’t the real deterrent — persuasion is. She elaborates, “Now you can tell someone, ‘This is against the law. Don’t do it. You could harm someone else.'”