this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2026
812 points (96.7% liked)
Technology
86264 readers
3212 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Why would the phone be on your lap if you're not using it?
This is kinda justified.
By the same logic if you're transporting unopened liquor in a grocery bag on the seat next to you it's "kinda justified" to be arrested for drinking while driving. After all why would it be in arm's reach if you weren't planning on drinking it?
Presumably the driver had previously used her phone, and the phone was in her lap. So the alcohol analogy would actually be re-sealed alcohol held by the driver or in a container around the driver's seat. Which is illegal in most of the USA.
She probably used it earlier, but not necessarily. She might not have a good place to set her phone in her car.
She might have used it earlier, at a time where it was legal. For instance, setting navigation or music before driving. Or (depending on local laws) while stopped at a light.
Right, but if we're making alcohol an analogy for phones then she wouldn't be given such leeway by the law. Alcohol is just a bad analogy here.
Because the alcohol law is "open container". There is no "phone in reach of driver" law. The analogous activity with alcohol would be active drinking.
So if the phone was on the seat she should get a ticket, if was on the console 2" to the right she should get a ticket, if it was in her pocket she should get a ticket? If it's in a dash mount within reach she should get a ticket? If the phone's in a sealed box like an unopened liquor bottle then she shouldn't?
You see now why alcohol is not a great analogy.
I got a lot of down votes above for pointing out the discrepancy. I think people got ahead of their skis: I wasn't trying to say she deserves DUI-level charges, I'm demonstrating that the analogy isn't great.
Because you aren’t using it. It isn’t in your lap when you’re using it. How do you use your mobile?
Not even a little justified. What are you on about?
Phone is on her lap specifically because she’s not using it.
I hate flock, I hate the surveillance state we've lived in for decades. But you don't just drive with a phone in your lap. She may not have been using it when the camera caught her but we all know she was definitely fucking using it. You're lying.
There’s a law against driving with your phone in your lap? That’s crazy.
Does holding the volume up button to switch songs count as using my phone?
Idiots downvoting you are the exact reason we end up with so many laws that seem ridiculous. You're exactly right, why would it be in her lap if she hadn't been using? Saying she's innocent because it wasn't actively in her hand, is like saying you're just carrying a bloody knife, but they didn't catch you stabbing the guy, so too bad.
In Australia, your phone must be stowed or in an approved cradle when driving, because, people would be using their phone and then drop it in their lap when caught and try to claim they were just carrying it there. Not that it got them out of the fine, it just saved time with idiots arguing.
Idk maybe she just left Dunkin and paid by scanning the app in the drive thru and now her cupholder is full and it's the safest place to put down the phone.
I don't know.
I do know what they say about assuming, though. And the state is assuming, and thus accusing, her of a dangerous activity on nothing but the thinnest of evidence.
An accusation that is based upon a presumption of guilt, which our system shouldn't be based upon.
And so now this person has to choose between taking time off work, and possibly lawyering up, to fight this and maybe just pay a few hundred in court fees...or just pay it.
This is Vexatious litigation and an abuse of the judicial system on the part of the state.
The other day my car told me to pull over and take a nap because I was driving out of dense tree cover into a really bright street and my eyes were squinty.
This is like putting a camera right there in the sun and issuing DUIs because you look high.
My phone is in my lap while driving all the time because I take it out of my back pocket to not squish it when sitting down and I don't have anywhere else to put it. Usually I remember to tuck it down beneath my legs, but sometimes I forget.
There's a bunch of trays that can hold your phone all over, newer ones even make some dedicated ones that would wirelessly charge your phone. Put it there, your lap is not a stable surface, and sure will distract you when the sudden movement causes it to slide off.