Nevada to Allow Law Enforcement to Use Contentious Tech to Combat Text-Driving

With smartphones in every pocket and a growing body of evidence that using them at the wheel can impair a driver just as much as being drunk, states across the US are looking for ways to fight against the scourge of drivers who use their phones at the wheel. Similar measures that were taken in New York last year ultimately stalled in the state legislature. However, those proposals are now being bought back.

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Nevada is going even further than New York dared to by enabling law enforcement to utilize a technology whose reliability has proven contentious. In theory, the tech enables law enforcement to ascertain whether a driver was using their cell phone in the moments leading up to an accident.

Concerns

But privacy and reliability concerns linger over the technology and many still aren’t sold on it as a viable long-term solution. Few people would argue with law enforcement that drivers being distracted by their cell phones is a very pervasive and very real problem, one that needs to be addressed.

The rest of the country will no doubt be carefully watching events in Nevada to see if the state has any success in reducing fatalities by introducing the devices. They will also be watching tentatively to see how the legal situation unfolds and whether there are to be any legal barriers to the implementation of these devices.

Textalyzer

The devices themselves, known as the “textalyzer”, connect to a cell phone and look for traces of recent activity. The idea is that the device can interrogate a cell phone and find out exactly what it has been doing. The business that produces the device is based in Israel, a nation known to possess some impressive tech for breaching smartphone security.

As yet, the device has not undergone any field testing in the US, although the business behind it is hoping that the Nevada legislation will change that by making Las Vegas ground zero for real-world trials.

Improving Safety

Driving a car in the US is safer today than at any time in history, with driverless technologies potentially set to further improve things. However, things could still be better. There are still enough accidents to keep car accident lawyers in business. Check that link for a list of circumstances in which accidents occur and someone is financially liable.

Nevada would certainly love to be the first state to seriously reduce the number of distracted drivers on their roads. However, the textalyzer raises serious questions about Fourth Amendment protections. Some, including the ACLU, argue that the way the device works amounts to a search of a citizen’s cell phone, which means it should require a warrant.

But the prevailing opinion right now seems to be that the devices are minimally intrusive and are therefore ok. Of course, no one knows for sure until the legislature has their say, but the devices seem to have the broad support of the law enforcement community. Everyone agrees that distracted driving is an issue, but whether the textalyzer the right approach to deal with it remains to be seen.