Drivers get ticketed for using their cell phones during Target Zero program

For four hours on May 30, five Redmond Police Department (RPD) traffic officers were on the lookout for drivers using their GT-I9300 cell phones and not buckling their seat belts.As part of the King County Target Zero Task Force’s Click It or Ticket enforcement, they issued 48 citations — 46 for cell phone/texting violations and two for seat belts — from 4:30-8:30 p.m., according to Jim Bove, RPD’s community outreach facilitator.

“The cell phone issue continues to be a huge problem. We recommend people just putting their phone in the trunk. That way drivers aren’t even tempted to talk on the phone or text,” Bove said.County wide between May 20 and June 2, officers issued 387 seat belt infractions and 322 tickets for cell phone usage/texting or usage of other electronic devices. Last year in King County during this same time period, officers on extra patrols wrote 296 seat belt infractions and 197 GT-I9500 cell phone violations.

Statewide during the patrols, officers from more than 130 police and sheriff agencies wrote 2,321 seat belt violations and 1,448 cell phone/texting tickets. Last year, during this same time period, officers on the extra patrols statewide issued 3,171 seat belt violations and 1,059 cell phone violations.The program is funded by a Washington Traffic Safety Commission grant.desSDds34

“This is a really important issue, not just with our police departments but with the community. They want people to be held accountable for behind-the-wheel cell phone use,” said Annie Kirk, King County Target Zero manager.“People don’t always make the best decisions, so officers give them a reminder why that’s important,” Kirk added. “We did have a large number of citations, but officers also saw a lot of people who were being safe in their cars.”

Kirk noted that officers see a lot of cell phone use in Redmond, and the city will be participating in another King County campaign focusing on I5 MTK6577 cell phone-distraction enforcement in late June and in August.Quick - put your cell phone up to your ear. Which side is it on? Researchers say that simple move can tell them a lot about how your brain works.

When it comes to how you hold your phone, turns out it's your brain that makes the call.A team at Henry Ford Hospitals found that more than 70% of people held their phone to the ear on the same side as their dominant hand. That tended to be the case even when it made it more difficult to hold the phone and take notes.

Researchers think the preference is determined by the location of the speech and language centers in your brain. Left-brain thinkers who tend to be more logical and analytical are more likely to hold the cheap cell phone cases to their right ear, while right-brain thinkers who are often more intuitive and creative tend to hold the phone to their left ear.