MACON, Ga. — Thanksgiving is just days away, which means more potentially distracted drivers on the road.
Viewer Rachel Clark reached out to us to say she was pulled over for a hands-free violation.
She said the problem is, the phone was in the passenger seat the whole time.
"At that point, I looked confused because I had just finished my phone call on the car speaker while the officer watched and the phone was sitting in the passenger seat, and I don’t remember having my phone in my hand at all," she said.
Clark said she is going to court to fight the ticket, but doesn’t know what proof the officer has.
"How will that be proven? Will the officer come to court?"
This prompted us to ask, how can officers prove a driver was violating the Hands-Free Act?
13WMAZ spoke to Bibb-County Solicitor General Rebecca Grist and consulted the Hands-Free Act.
We can verify that the answer is pretty simple.
"If a person were to ask for a trial in a hands-free violation, what would happen is the officer would come to court and essentially it would be the officer testifying his or her observation," said Grist.
In short, it’s the officer’s word against the driver.
Grist couldn't think of any cases where the magistrate judge took the driver's word over the officer's.
She went on to say that out of the 352 people cited for hands-free violations in Bibb County this year, most just paid the $50 fine.
According to the Hands-Free Law itself, which took effect in July 2018, drivers cannot have a phone in their hand or touching any part of their body while talking on their phone while driving.
So we can verify that when it comes to hands-free violation disputes, it comes down to just the officer’s testimony versus the driver's.
The fine for the first hands-free violation is $50, $100 for the second, and $150 for the third.
The fines for the second or third offense only apply if they take place within two years of the first conviction.
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