Tennessee Continues To Get Semi-Tough On Texters

Jack Baruth
by Jack Baruth

The murder rate is up in Tennessee for the second year in a row but the state highway patrol has a solution: spending hundreds of dollars per hour to catch drivers who are texting.


It’s been going on for a while, but Tennessee is still eighteen (or at least ten) wheels-a-rollin’ against people with the temerity to send messages about ravioli and formuoli and whatnot from behind the wheel. There’s some mild irony in play here: The federal government, in its eternal wisdom, doesn’t much care for Tennessee’s texting-and-driving law, because it isn’t strict enough. The feds want the state to bust drivers who endanger lives by texting when the car is not in motion. Why that’s dangerous to anyone isn’t quite clear. I suppose that if you were texting while stopped and the light turned green and you missed it as a result, and the guy behind you was a top-ranking member of the Los Angeles Crips, somebody might be in danger.

The good news for daredevils who want to stare Death directly in the face is that the THP semi-truck is well-marked, including “State Highway” on the mandatory tinted-Lexan bug deflector, so if you get caught it’s probably a sign that you really aren’t paying enough attention to the road.

Jack Baruth
Jack Baruth

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  • Sken Sken on Oct 31, 2013

    I'd be more impressed if the cops were likewise barred from hunt-n-pecking their laptops while driving. If you've ever been next to or behind an officer overly engrossed with the in-car computer you know what I mean. They are also no less likely to be mucking about with their phones or lunch than the rest of us while driving. The lane wandering and inability to keep a steady speed are profile bait for DUI or texting stops, but it's Official Patrol Vehicle Equipment, so it's all good.

  • Spreadsheet monkey Spreadsheet monkey on Nov 01, 2013

    Here in commie pinko socialist England, this has been a regular thing for a few years now. The purpose of police using a semi tractor is to put them at eye level with other truck drivers. Most people here accept it as a good thing. Truck drivers have caused some serious accidents because they were texting and not concentrating on the road. https://www.google.co.uk/#q=lorry+driver+texting

  • Jimal Jimal on Nov 01, 2013

    Texting (or interacting with your mobile device) and driving is dumb, but IMHO equating distracted driving to impaired driving almost as dumb. Anecdotally (and logically), there is a basic difference between being distracted and being impaired. Becoming undistracted is a simple matter of looking up, which can be triggered by any number of internal or external stimuli. Your mind isn't chemically impaired. If you are driving under the influence of some substance in your body, your senses are in fact impaired. You won't magically sober up because someone lays on the horn or you feel the rumble strips on the side of the road.

  • Cartunez Cartunez on Nov 01, 2013

    Murder might be going up but there is no money in it. Modern police work aka the mobile tax collectors are mostly interested in fees and fines and bullshit arrests that bring in revenue and show the power and glory of the state.

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