Vaping and driving

[Fugacity]

I was driving down the street with my 6 year old daughter (actually on her birthday) and I noticed a police car behind me. I pointed out the police car because my daughter would be interested. As soon as I made my left, the lights came on and I pulled to the side of the road.

I was stumped as to why they would want to talk with me because I couldn't remember doing anything wrong while driving. I waited until the police officer came to the vehicle, where she said " you were holding a cellphone". Since my cellphone hadn't left my pocket, I protested and my daughter chirped in "he wasn't" I quickly realized she must have seen my PV; ever since I quit smoking, I've been sucking the thing like a pacifier.

I handed the PV to the officer and she wanted to see the phone. I showed her the phone and she insists it was the phone she saw in my hand and proceeds to write me a $170.00 ticket.

I've arranged to appeal the ticket in court but there is little chance of winning since the law in BC states it is illegal to hold a phone, so phone records won't help me and it will be my word against a peace officer's.

Puzzled over how I can avoid having my PV mistaken for my cellphone, I came to the obvoius decision. I replaced my black rig with a white one.

Happy vaping

 

[IT_guy]

Thats good advice for all vaper's. I've passed a few cops while i was vaping but there's no way they could mistake my evo for a cell phone

 

[Kevofar]

you can show your cell bill to the court. I know my bill lists the airtime used time and date to show you wern't on the phone

 

[ChellyNelly]

It doesn't matter if he was talking on it or not, you're not even allowed to have it in your hand, really. I would just bring your PV and cell phone to court and say that he was mistaken, see what they do. There are lots of white cell phones too though, so I don't know how much that will help you in the future. I think you just ran into a complete ......., and that sucks.

 

[therealcmac]

Definitely protest the ticket in court.

 

[skizif]

Same thing happened to me except I got out of it without a ticket...I'm convinced it was because the cop was so confused when I showed him the mod I was using that he just let me go.

 

[Zeeker]

Sounds like this could go either way. Good luck in court...

 

[Toronto_Mike]

Cops have a quota of 25 tickets per day. It was confirmed yesterday on a news clip by a retired sergent I've even had a cop say to me "just see me in court & we'll have it taken care of" - a good cop will have no memory when testifying in court - your case should be & probably will be dismissed - you do have a little witness, right?

 

[CanuckVapour16]

If cops in BC are anything like Ont. Fight it as they won't even show up and it gets tossed 7/10 times.

 

[Concat]

Yeah, you don't even need to be innocent for it to be worth fighting. Even when the cop shows up to testify, they often reduce it and send you on your way.

Cops are such liars anyway. It's actually pretty ludicrous that they give their testimony such credence. As if they are somehow incapable of making false statements. It's practically routine for a lot of them for crying out loud.

Anyway, I'm not really anti cop... just venting.

 

[Toronnah]

There was a story in the Toronto Sun a few weeks ago that judges are starting to see that police lie on reports and in court.

It could go your way.

 

[ChellyNelly]

Starting to see that they lie on reports and in court? That's funny. It's not like it's a new development that cops falsify reports and commit purgery on the regular

 

[MisterMike]

Starting to see that they lie on reports and in court? That's funny. It's not like it's a new development that cops falsify reports and commit purgery on the regular

An acquaintance of mine said something along the lines that the police were nothing but a government-run protection racket that you pay for with your taxes.

Now, I'm inclined to disagree with that somewhat, however I've observed myself that there is some serious Omerta type stuff involved with being a police officer. They definitely look out for their own, first.

EDIT: On the flipside, a friend of mine was specifically instructed by the ticketing officer to fight the ticket because he wouldn't be showing up in court on that day. So, they're not all bad.

 

[Squish]

I always use a bloog when I'm driving, anything else and i get weird looks like people think I'm doing drugs or something

 

[ChellyNelly]

Ya'll are extremely self conscious

 

[zer0ith]

When I see a cop doing speed traps or just sitting in the open I purposely make sure I am puffing away like crazy on my Reo. They don't seem to care where I am.

However I am really bad with cops when I know I've done nothing wrong.

Short version of story. Pulled over after leaving work for suspected driving drunk, car searched. Demanded supervisor as felt was being treated unfairly. Dismissed 2 hours later with a supervisor (I don't know what rank he was) card in my pocket which he said was a free pass for 1 minor violation in the future.

Took me 3 years to get pulled over from that point.

If you feel your being treated unfairly demand an on scene supervisor. Just be prepared to wait!

 

[Bdbodger]

I don't think the cop will show up but it is pretty much illegal to do anything while driving so there maybe something in the law that they can charge you with but since the cop can't say for sure what you had you may get off even if he did show .

 

[wreimer]

That may be true for one department, but it's inaccurate as a blanket statement for the entire country. In reality most departments only set "quotas" for traffic citations to members in their traffic enforcement sections.

Traffice enforcement is important, but in the order of priority, most larger departments place it a fair long way down the priorities list. As for court purposes, the Officer must still convince the court beyond reasonable doubt that an offence has taken place. In B.C., the law prohibits holding a cellphone. If the OP can cast reasonable doubt on the veracity of the claim by the officer that a cellphone was being held, the case must be dismissed. It's no longer something the Officer has an discretion to influence once the case goes to court. Before that point, they may ask for the charge to be dismissed, but for the most part the days of having a "buddy who's a Cop" "fix" a ticket are long since gone.
Lots of myths

Cops have a quota of 25 tickets per day. It was confirmed yesterday on a news clip by a retired sergent I've even had a cop say to me "just see me in court & we'll have it taken care of" - a good cop will have no memory when testifying in court - your case should be & probably will be dismissed - you do have a little witness, right?

 

[Vomelche]

I imagine traffic enforcement is a tedious job, so without quotas no cop would bother with it, but with too much quota maybe cops start pulling people over for the wrong reasons?

Vaping in the car should be alright i guess, if you are not overly distracted by it

 

[butterflykissed]

I figure as long as it legal to drive and smoke, it should be legal to drive and vape.