Police start issuing $124 citations for drivers on phones

As she chatted on her cellphone Thursday morning, a woman driving a Prius on a Highway 520 onramp looked over at the car next to her, then did a double take — it was a Washington State Patrol trooper. She quickly hung up, but it was too late.

She became the first offender Trooper Michael Conroy ticketed under the state's new cellphone law.

The law, which makes it a primary offense to use a handheld cellphone to talk or text while driving, took effect Thursday. Drivers caught holding a phone to their ear or with their fingers on the keys can be fined $124, though violations will not become part of a person's driving record. The law also bans all cellphone use for those with instructional permits and for drivers younger than 18.

Washington joins five other states in making such distracted driving a primary offense. Conroy hopes the change will make roads and highways safer.

"Ideally, it will reduce the amount of collisions," he said.

Conroy said troopers weren't given any special instructions to look for cellphone-holding drivers Thursday morning, but they were reminded in a morning e-mail that the law had taken effect.

Seattle police officers also weren't told specifically to look for violators.

"There's no special effort; it's just routine," said Seattle Police Detective Renee Witt, adding that officers can cite offenders they happen to see.

Neither agency tallied official numbers Thursday to say how many cellphone offenders they'd cited.

Previously, talking on a cellphone or texting while driving was a secondary offense, so officers could only ticket people if they also violated another traffic law, such as speeding or failing to use turn signals.

"People used to just look at me and keep talking as they drove by because they knew I couldn't pull them over," Conroy said.

In the past few weeks, he said, he's noticed more people have been throwing their phones down or hanging up when they see him. He said a drifting car is the most obvious sign of a multi-tasking driver.

The last time Conroy pulled over a driver for talking on a phone as a secondary offense, he followed her for two miles and saw her change lanes twice and drift off the road twice. When he stopped her, she told Conroy she hadn't been aware he was behind her.

Conroy searched for phone-holding offenders for more than an hour Thursday morning, but more people were holding coffee cups than cellphones. Most people talking on the phone were wearing headsets, which likely will become more popular now that the law has changed.

Phone retailers such as Radio Shack and Verizon Wireless have already noted increased sales for hands-free phone options throughout the state.

"There has been a lot of increase, more conversation and certainly more sales," said Scott Charlston, public-relations manager for Verizon Wireless.

According to a recent survey released by Car Toys, a car-audio-and-wireless-electronics retailer, 24 percent of the 634 people polled will continue using handheld cellphones and take their chances at getting a ticket. More than 80 percent of responders admitted to driving with a phone in hand before Thursday's law took effect.

The distractions don't stop at cellphones, though. Drivers admitted to applying makeup, changing clothes and shaving while driving.

Conroy said patrollers can't ticket people for putting on lipstick or trimming their beards behind the wheel unless they violate a traffic law.

Conroy sat in his vehicle Thursday morning after pulling over the Prius and wrote a ticket for the first time under the new law. Though he can choose to give warnings rather than citations, Conroy said, he won't.

"Now she'll tell her friends," he said about the driver. "Word travels faster when people are cited."

Carly Flandro: 206-579-3013 or cflandro@seattletimes.com