Wyckoff Top Cop: 'Celling-While-Driving' Crackdown Doesn't Solve the Problem

State Senator Richard Codey introduced legislation last week that would suspend the license of drivers for their third infraction of using a mobile device while driving. But Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox isn't enthusiastic about the proposal.

The proposal, if enacted, would make New Jersey's mobile device use law on roadways the harshest in the nation. First-time offenders would be fined $100; second-time offenders $250; and third-time offenders would receive a $500 fine and a 60-day suspension of their driver's license.

"I believe there has been research that the distraction is the conversation, not the act of the conversation," Fox said said. "This isn't hitting the root of the problem."

"With all the infractions that everone complains about on our roadways, if someone has been violating no regulation other than the fact that they're talking on the cell phone ... I have a huge problem with that," he said.

Fox said he had also "strongly opposed" the original state phone use law–which banned cell phone use while driving in 2004–though he supported the ban of texting in 2008.

"You could be having a Bluetooth dangling off your ear and you're having the same conversation and the same distraction that comes with the conversation, even if you're not physically holding a phone," he said.

He called Codey's proposal "nothing more than a revenue-generator," and said that taking people's driver's licenses away for talking on phones while driving, "frankly, is ludicrous."

Fox did say that distracted drivers are a problem, and that Wyckoff, like any other town, is affected by drivers who operate mobile devices, though he did say that he doubts it's any more prevalent than any other town.

Drivers are distracted by all sorts of things, he said, adding that the nature of driving requires multitasking and there's not likely any real solution to what he sees as crux of the issue–distractions.

"If you accept that the distraction is the conversation, I quite frankly don't know a way around it," he said, noting frequent conversations with passengers, loud music, changing controls of the car are all things most drivers do with great frequency. He said one could argue that changing the dial on the radio is more of a hazard because the driver is fully diverting his or her eyes from the road.

"My point when I argued against [the original phone use bill] is if an officer sees a car in violation, they should be charged for that violation, but we shoudn't be necessarily overly concerned that they're having a phone conversation," Fox said.

Texting in the act of driving, he said, however, was a whole other concern. "Unquestionably, that's a hazard," the chief said, as, like changing the radio, the driver's eyes are completely averted from the road.

Though he disagrees with the law, Fox said that the police are there to enforce the laws of the state, and that his officers have been handing out tickets to those who have been using their phone while driving.

"I've never supported it but it is a law, we have to enforce it, and we do," he said.

Editor's Note: Chief Fox had supported the 2008 ban of text messaging while driving, as reflected in this updated version of our story. Patch regrets an error made in an earlier version of this piece.