Tt post may 25, 2017

I wonder if the Ohio ACLU will make a statement, regarding Toledo police Chief George Kral's new nebulous, "aggressive approach" to law enforcement. Nothing yet from the ACLU.

• http://www.acluohio.org
• https://.twitter.com/acluohio

I infer that Toledo police now can pull a driver over for no reason other than a "belief" by the officer.

If a driver is doing nothing wrong and may not own a cell phone, that driver can still be pulled over because of an incorrect belief by the police officer.

Yesterday's Blade story mentioned forms of the word "belief".

Toledo's police chief announced today that officers can pull over and ticket motorists who are believed to be texting while driving.

... motorists can be pulled over if officers believe drivers are texting and driving.

Today's version of the Blade story does not mention the word "belief".

http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4511.20

4511.20 Operation in willful or wanton disregard of the safety of persons or property.

(A) No person shall operate a vehicle, trackless trolley, or streetcar on any street or highway in willful or wanton disregard of the safety of persons or property.

(B) Except as otherwise provided in this division, whoever violates this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor. If, within one year of the offense, the offender previously has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to one predicate motor vehicle or traffic offense, whoever violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. If, within one year of the offense, the offender previously has been convicted of two or more predicate motor vehicle or traffic offenses, whoever violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree.

Effective Date: 01-01-2004.

If a driver uses the cell phone and drives perfectly, Toledo police can consider that driver to be exhibiting a disregard of the safety of persons or property and pull that driver over.

Jamie Blazevich, the Lucas County Traffic Safety Program director, said texting while driving is a selfish act that threatens harm, and phone applications exist that can restrict notifications.

Kral's new aggressive approach is almost like a Minority Report thing.

Sure, the driver is operating the vehicle perfectly fine now, but since the driver is using the cell phone, that driver may cause a problem in the future because of statistics.

Drivers are 23 times more likely to crash if texting ...

Despite that, I disagree with Chief Kral's new aggressive plan. I'm always suspicious of some new idea when it's about safety.

Not all drivers were born equal. Some motorists can operate a vehicle perfectly even while snoggered while other motorists always drive horribly because they are natural born bad drivers.

Give a natural born bad driver any distraction, and the rest of society is in danger. But some people are gifted with great reflexes, focus, anticipation capabilities, situation awareness skills, and peripheral vision, and they can drive well under any condition.

Kral's new aggressive approach assumes that every driver using a cell phone is automatically a lawbreaker and a danger to society even when the driver has committed no infractions.

Law enforcement around here love their nearly nefarious search and seizure checkpoints. Maybe Kral's new idea is a next step.