Anonymous wrote:OP here. There are about 15 routes I can take home, and traffic changes on a dime, so I often will do a route recalculation when at a red light, and completely stopped, to confirm whether I should change routes. I didn't think this was an issue but sounds like it is so fair enough.

Many people do this, and they are distracted when the light changes, causing a delay - fewer cars can pass through the light because of people stopped at red lights fiddling with their phones. OP, you are actually contributing to traffic - not fighting it.

Use an app that auto-routes, and leave your phone alone.

Using your phone while "driving" (ie, behind the wheel, on a road, even while stopped) is a primary offense in DC. You can be pulled over just for that.

Also, you are an asshole for having the phone ON YOUR WINDSHILED. WTF? Do you not know how to drive home? That is the most dangerous thing people do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Picture of the ticket or it didn’t happen.

DC police don’t make traffic stops. I just don’t believe it. Almost every driver is on their phone in a way that they think is fine. It’s really not ok.

This was my first reaction.

I was stopped by DC police for talking on my cellphone while driving, however he only gave me a warning.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. There are about 15 routes I can take home, and traffic changes on a dime, so I often will do a route recalculation when at a red light, and completely stopped, to confirm whether I should change routes. I didn't think this was an issue but sounds like it is so fair enough.

Doesn't waze do that automatically? Google maps does.

I actually had Waze reroute me this morning, so yes, it does.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. There are about 15 routes I can take home, and traffic changes on a dime, so I often will do a route recalculation when at a red light, and completely stopped, to confirm whether I should change routes. I didn't think this was an issue but sounds like it is so fair enough.

Doesn't waze do that automatically? Google maps does.

Anonymous wrote:That’s weird it must have changed in the past few years. A couple years ago I was stopped at a red light in DuPont. A cop knocked on my window and said to make sure I put the phone down when driving, but using it at a red light is actually permitted.

DC police can be really bad about knowing traffic laws. I’d love it if they enforced more, but they should probably brush up on their laws first.

That’s weird it must have changed in the past few years. A couple years ago I was stopped at a red light in DuPont. A cop knocked on my window and said to make sure I put the phone down when driving, but using it at a red light is actually permitted.

Anonymous wrote:Picture of the ticket or it didn’t happen.

DC police don’t make traffic stops. I just don’t believe it. Almost every driver is on their phone in a way that they think is fine. It’s really not ok.

This was my first reaction.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. There are about 15 routes I can take home, and traffic changes on a dime, so I often will do a route recalculation when at a red light, and completely stopped, to confirm whether I should change routes. I didn't think this was an issue but sounds like it is so fair enough.

Waze will automatically reroute you.

It sounds like you are message testing your defense for plausibility.

Anonymous wrote:Picture of the ticket or it didn’t happen.

DC police don’t make traffic stops. I just don’t believe it. Almost every driver is on their phone in a way that they think is fine. It’s really not ok.

+1 on both points.

MPD does nearly no traffic enforcement in DC. There are under 5,000 officer issued traffic citations in DC the last couple of years and that includes citations they have to issue after traffic accidents.

And it definitely is not ok assuming this story is even true. Did you actually wait until you had come to a complete stop before grabbing your cell phone?

I hate Waze by the way. Most of the re-routes in DC are through residential neighborhoods. I should not have more traffic on my residential sidestreet because some other idiot from Maryland got in a traffic accident while looking at their phone.

Anonymous wrote:Retired urban cop here. We didn’t have this law when I was working, but there were other traffic laws that we were authorized to enforce. Generally, we didn’t though. We had all we could handle taking care of serious issues and if we had co-workers making traffic stops they were often chastised by other cops. When a serious call came in god help the cop that was on a speeding stop. We had a traffic division and we let them handle those issues. I doubt much has changed since I was on. Most often it was a rookie cop that was making traffic stops. I think they just liked to turn on their sirens.

In the jurisdiction I live in there has been a big push as part of Vision Zero to let non traffic squad cops know they need to make traffic stops. Not sure quite how effective its been though. This is a suburb though, where traffic fatalities are more common than homicides.

Anonymous wrote:Retired urban cop here. We didn’t have this law when I was working, but there were other traffic laws that we were authorized to enforce. Generally, we didn’t though. We had all we could handle taking care of serious issues and if we had co-workers making traffic stops they were often chastised by other cops. When a serious call came in god help the cop that was on a speeding stop. We had a traffic division and we let them handle those issues. I doubt much has changed since I was on. Most often it was a rookie cop that was making traffic stops. I think they just liked to turn on their sirens.

This is a big problem and contributes to the poor behavior on the road. I don’t think DC even has a traffic division anymore. No onset people are being killed by bad drivers.