Spotting drivers using cellphones easy to do

By WILLIAM LUDT

TheNewsOutlet.org

EUCLID

A truck barrels through an intersection. The driver can be seen talking on a cellphone, and as he passes, so can his bright yellow license plates.

“There you go!” said Regina Spicer. “He’s on his phone, plus he has drunk-driving tags.”

Spicer is a driving instructor at New Beginnings Driving School in Euclid. She agreed to go on a 45-minute drive with reporters from The News Outlet to see how many drivers she could spot using cellphones. They drove along Lakeshore Boulevard and 185th Street in the city.

This was part of a project looking at the dangers of distracted driving.

“So, he’s on his phone. He’s already not paying attention to what he was doing, plus he was in excess of the speed limit,” Spicer said. “So that shows you that the phone itself is distracting him, so he’s not paying attention to his speed within traffic. And he’s in a big truck.”

This encounter is at the 51/2-minute mark into the drive. Roughly two minutes before, Spicer spotted two other drivers using phones.

In all, 14 people were spotted.

Spicer said just about all generations use their phones while driving.

“I’d say the percentage may increase with young drivers, but it’s across the board,” she said. “I have eight adults in my remedial class now, and all of them use a phone. I had some feedback when I showed them the video of how easily they can get into a collision and kill somebody.”

Spicer said during a driving lesson, her main focus is on the student, but she also has to keep an eye out for erratic drivers for safety’s sake. She’s become adept at spotting those drivers.

“I have seen a lady on the freeway — driving, swerving — and when I pulled up next to her she had a baby in the back seat and she was on her phone,” she said.

At 17 minutes into the ride, the group pulls into a gas station at an intersection. They park and observe traffic passing under the traffic light.

“When you see people looking down, you know that they are on the phone,” Spicer said.

About a minute later, a female driver crosses double yellow lines before finally getting back into the passing lane. Soon after, a male driver is so focused on his phone he nearly hits the car in front of him that has stopped.

At 22 minutes, the group spots a police officer waiting to pull out from a shopping center. He is staring down at his cellphone.

“Euclid is a city that enforces the no-texting and driving [law], but some cities enforce the no-texting and no-cellphone, period,” she said. “How can they really enforce it if they’re not doing it themselves? And the way he’s looking down, I’d say he was texting. That was a policeman texting!”

While that may seem wrong, state law does allow on-duty police officers, firefighters, ambulance drivers and other public safety officials to use cellphones while driving.

Only drivers, 17 and younger, are banned from using any electronic device while driving. Adult drivers are banned from texting, but they are allowed to talk on cellphones.

After 24 minutes, the group re-enters traffic, where they spot several more drivers using cellphones. One person’s car seat is reclined, so he has to stretch out his arm to reach the steering wheel. The other hand holds a cellphone.

“You only have one-half to three-quarters of a second to react to a hazard, and if you’re leaned back with one hand on your phone and the other on the wheel — it’s not going to happen,” Spicer said.

She’s got advice for drivers who just have to make or take a call.

“Pull over,” Spicer said. “If you’ve really got to use it, if you’re just that thirsty to use your phone, pull over to a parking lot. Just get out of traffic.”

TheNewsOutlet.org is a collaborative effort among the Youngstown State University journalism program, The University of Akron, Cuyahoga Community College and professional media outlets including, WYSU-FM Radio and The Vindicator, and The Beacon Journal and Rubber City Radio, both of Akron.