I think this is a dangerous road to go down. Even though I feel that Safety on the roads is paramount and that there are way too many people that talk or text while on their phones, I think this becomes an invasion of privacy unless the police officer has reasonable cause to go through your phone (i.e. saw you on your phone or texting). Also, cell phones are only a drop in the bucket. I've seen and had my passengers take pictures of people in their cars putting on make up or even reading! It's insane what all is out there. So what's next, cops will check women's purses for makeup usage? Books in the car for freshly turned pages?
I know i'm being dramatic here, but the point is, there has to be a line somewhere. I do want the roads to be safer and I want drivers to be less distracted (texting while driving is actually more dangerous than driving drunk according to a study http://www.cnbc.com/id/31545004/Texting_And_Driving_Worse_Th...), but I also don't want some random police officer rifling through my private text messages, e-mails and voicemails for the purposes of seeing if I should get another ticket.
Additionally, I often make short trips for lunch (.1 miles or less). If a police officer does go through my phone, how is he to know I didn't send that text just as I got in my car before I left Wendy's to return to the office? He doesn't, no one does. That's the problem with this and why I feel it is too much of an invasion.
I know i'm being dramatic here, but the point is, there has to be a line somewhere. I do want the roads to be safer and I want drivers to be less distracted (texting while driving is actually more dangerous than driving drunk according to a study http://www.cnbc.com/id/31545004/Texting_And_Driving_Worse_Th...), but I also don't want some random police officer rifling through my private text messages, e-mails and voicemails for the purposes of seeing if I should get another ticket.
Additionally, I often make short trips for lunch (.1 miles or less). If a police officer does go through my phone, how is he to know I didn't send that text just as I got in my car before I left Wendy's to return to the office? He doesn't, no one does. That's the problem with this and why I feel it is too much of an invasion.