PITTSBURGH — If you’re caught using or touching your phone while driving in Pennsylvania, you’ll soon face a $50 fine.
“We are all just running out, stopping cars whenever we see them,” Peters Township Police Chief Joseph Glover told Channel 11.
Over the next few days, Chief Glover and several other departments across the South Hills are giving drivers their final warnings before the Paul Miller Law goes into effect.
Starting this Saturday, drivers who have their cell phones in their hand will be fined.
Chief Glover sees it every day.
“You pull up to traffic on Route 19. You’re stopped at a red light. You look over, and they’re sitting there playing on your cell phone. That’s illegal now,” Chief Glover said.
Police departments across the South Hills say it’s especially a problem on Route 19.
“All of us, all of the police departments have a lot of crashes on 19. That’s where a vast majority of our traffic is… and it’s also where people are going to see us out stopping cars,” he added.
Paul Miller was killed in 2010 when the driver of a tractor-trailer reached for his phone while driving and crashed into Miller.
“There are a number of fatal crashes out there where people have dropped their cell phone down into the footwell and they reach down for there, take their eye off the road, and swing into a another lane, and somebody gets hit head-on and killed,” he said.
The only exception to the law is if a driver needs to dial 911 while behind the wheel.
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