Don't drink...coffee and drive

spoon059 wrote:
Yea, I saw this article and didn't even bother reading it. Obviously this woman wasn't pulled over for "drinking coffee". She was obviously pulled over because something about her driving concerned the officer. Most states have a distracted driving law. I'm sure that most states define "distracted driving" as doing something while driving that takes away the drivers time and attention from driving.

If you can drink your coffee and drive safely at 70 mph in the left lane, you are probably okay. Then again if you have to slow down to 37 mph and swerve across 3 lanes to drink your coffee, you are probably a distracted driver.

Is it possible that the officer was completely unreasonable and this is truly a egregious case of police misconduct? Sure, its possible. That is what court is for. It would be interesting to see how this case proceeds at trial. It would be interesting to see the in car video, if one exists.

I work investigations now, but did over 12 years on the road as a patrol officer. The amount of stupid things I saw on the road are amazing. I pulled someone over for reading a newspaper in traffic. A full newspaper. Opened completely and spread across his steering wheel. In stop and go traffic. He couldn't believe that I was "harassing" him and wrote him a ticket for distracted driving.

When you only get one side of the story, I generally don't entertain the story. Chances are that there is WAY more to this story than to which this lady is admitting.

Thank you that was my point also. I avoided reading the story for awhile also. Your basic low on facts filler for the news (editorial). But with respect to this story it is a mute point. She received a seatbelt violation. If she decides to fight it, it will be as uneventful as any traffic court proceeding. She may or may not get points. She may or may not get a deferred, reduced or waived fine. Just depends on the judge at that point.