July 11, 2011
By: Bruce Berry
Police officers in Kentucky say they've had a difficult time enforcing a year-old law that prohibits texting while driving in the state.
Law enforcement officials around the state told the Kentucky Enquirer they have only issued 144 citations and fines for incidents since January 1, partly because it is difficult to actually catch a driver in the act of texting. The law, designed to cut down on accidents and auto insurance claims related to distracted driving, has been in effect for a year but officers only handed out verbal warnings for its first six months.
The main challenge for officers, the report said, was that they cannot cite a person for simply using their cell phone – they need to be sure they were texting.
"We might have an idea, but it's one of those things that it is hard to prove," Erlanger Police lieutenant Kevin Gilpin told the source. "We have to have proof that was happening, not just a hunch."
Despite the purported difficulty in enforcing such a law, more states appear willing to ban texting while driving. The Governors Highway Safety Association released a recent report suggesting more states pass such a law to curb distracted driving.
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