Driver claims she got $200 ticket for putting on lip balm behind the wheel

[Johnboy60]

LAS VEGAS -- The Nevada Highway Patrol has a campaign to crackdown on distracted drivers, but how far is too far when it comes to cracking the whip? 8 News NOW decided to examine that question after a Las Vegas woman said she received a ticket from a Boulder City police officer for putting on lip balm at a red light.

Stephanie Fragoso said she was cited Wednesday during the statewide crackdown. She said she was at a red light at I-15 and Blue Diamond when it happened.

Fragoso said when she asked the officer why he pulled her over, he told her it was for putting on makeup.

Driver claims she got $200 ticket for putting on lip balm behind - 8 News NOW

 

[FreeSpirit74]

As long as the car isn't moving, it's legal, or should be.

 

[ThinkForYourself]

As long as the car isn't moving, it's legal, or should be.

I have to disagree.

I hate sitting behind someone at a light, the light turns green, and the person in front has to finish up what they are doing.

If you need to do something other than drive, pull over, then do it.

 

[FreeSpirit74]

You can put on lip balm while keeping your eyes on the light. And you shouldn't go right when the light turns green, anyway, if you are the front car in line. You may get yourself T-boned by a car trying to beat the red (we have a lot of idiots who do that around where I live).

 

[ChristsSoldier115]

As long as the car isn't moving, it's legal, or should be.

Yeah I have a driving mantra of: If I am doing something at a stop light and it doesn't get finished then, then I wait until the next one or pull over.

People need to seriously quit trying to multitask while driving down the road. I am sick of almost being hit.

 

[PreachersWife2004]

No sympathy from me.

I was rearended by a girl putting on lipbalm. Oh yeah, she was stopped at a light and apparently out of her peripheral vision she thought she saw that the light had changed so she gunned it. Right into my trunk.

Pretty much EVERYTHING can wait while you're driving a car.

 

[AvilaSurfer]

As long as the car isn't moving, it's legal, or should be.

Nope.

 

[Saul Hudson]

What they need to crack down on is slow people driving in the left lane. It is a plague!

 

[USCGrad90]

If you look at the ticket in the video, you can see that the woman had no insurance and her vehicle wasn't registered. Her story of innocently putting on lip balm is a little more suspect considering those details.

 

[Cearbhall]

I have to disagree.

I hate sitting behind someone at a light, the light turns green, and the person in front has to finish up what they are doing.

That's not dangerous, though, unless you're in the habit of gunning it before the car in front of you starts moving. I'm not comfortable with criminalizing pet peeves.

 

[Flower82]

People should be concentrated on driving and not fooling around with anything else.

 

[Billnew]

She got a ticket for doing something when she was at a stop light.
It doesn't say she held up traffic, she did not cause an accident.
She applied lip balm while sitting at a stop light.

She broke a law that probably most people would not even know or think of as a crime.
This is a case of police abuse of power. There was no one harmed by her actions, just a cop wanting to be a... powerful. (I would have used other words, but this is a Christian site.)

People can play what if, all they want. What if she held up traffic? What if she crashed into another car? What if...what if...what if...
She applied chapstick and it cost her $200. It harmed no one, nor put anyone in danger. Just a cop reinforcing the abusive nature that people think they have.

 

[ThinkForYourself]

What they need to crack down on is slow people driving in the left lane. It is a plague!

They can manage it in Europe. I don't know why we can't do it here.

 

[ThinkForYourself]

That's not dangerous, though, unless you're in the habit of gunning it before the car in front of you starts moving. I'm not comfortable with criminalizing pet peeves.

it's more than a pet peeve, it's called Distracted Driving and it's dangerous:.

From CAA (Canadian AAA)

• Cell phones are one of the most common distractions for drivers. Drivers engaged in text messaging on a cellular phone are 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash or near crash event compared with non-distracted drivers. (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 2010)
• 84% of distracted-driving-related fatalities in the US were tied to the general classification of carelessness or inattentiveness (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2009)
• 80% of collisions and 65% of near crashes have some form of driver inattention as contributing factors (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2010)
• Distracted drivers are 3 times more likely to be in a crash than attentive drivers (Alberta Transportation, 2011)
• Driver distraction is a factor in about 4 million motor vehicle crashes in North America each year

 

[PreachersWife2004]

She got a ticket for doing something when she was at a stop light.
It doesn't say she held up traffic, she did not cause an accident.
She applied lip balm while sitting at a stop light.

She broke a law that probably most people would not even know or think of as a crime.
This is a case of police abuse of power. There was no one harmed by her actions, just a cop wanting to be a... powerful. (I would have used other words, but this is a Christian site.)

People can play what if, all they want. What if she held up traffic? What if she crashed into another car? What if...what if...what if...
She applied chapstick and it cost her $200. It harmed no one, nor put anyone in danger. Just a cop reinforcing the abusive nature that people think they have.

ahem...

No sympathy from me.

I was rearended by a girl putting on lipbalm. Oh yeah, she was stopped at a light and apparently out of her peripheral vision she thought she saw that the light had changed so she gunned it. Right into my trunk.

Pretty much EVERYTHING can wait while you're driving a car.

It is not cop abuse. She was distracted while sitting in two tons of tin can metal.

 

[ThinkForYourself]

Dp

 

[ThinkForYourself]

She got a ticket for doing something when she was at a stop light.
It doesn't say she held up traffic, she did not cause an accident.
She applied lip balm while sitting at a stop light.

She broke a law that probably most people would not even know or think of as a crime.
This is a case of police abuse of power. There was no one harmed by her actions, just a cop wanting to be a... powerful. (I would have used other words, but this is a Christian site.)

People can play what if, all they want. What if she held up traffic? What if she crashed into another car? What if...what if...what if...
She applied chapstick and it cost her $200. It harmed no one, nor put anyone in danger. Just a cop reinforcing the abusive nature that people think they have.

Granted the following article is about cellphone use, but a couple of points:

1. See my previous post immediately above this one. Distracted Driving takes many forms, and causes many deaths and injuries. We are just most aware of cell phone usage.

2. People used to say exactly what you are saying above in regards to cellphone usage.

If you need to do something other than drive, pull over and do it. If you don't have time, too bad, next time you will remember to be a bit more organized, and leave a bit earlier.

Distracted driving deadlier than impaired driving, police say ahead of holiday crackdown

Fiddling with a cellphone while behind the wheel is proving to be deadlier than drunk driving -- at least according to statistics emerging from one province ahead of a campaign to crack down on distracted drivers. So far, 47 of the 177 deaths on Ontario highways involved drivers who were distracted. That’s in contrast to the 32 people who died in impaired driving-related deaths.

 

[TerranceL]

That's not dangerous, though, unless you're in the habit of gunning it before the car in front of you starts moving. I'm not comfortable with criminalizing pet peeves.

Is texting at a red light ok too?

 

[FreeSpirit74]

Is texting at a red light ok too?

I've done it. And pitched the phone onto the passenger seat when the light turns green.

 

[imind]

ahem...



It is not cop abuse. She was distracted while sitting in two tons of tin can metal.

its abuse...applying lip balm is no different than changing the radio station...its not like lip stick that requires teh use of a mirror.

sorry, i'm not buying the story of the crash caused by lip balm that another member mentioned.

and lol, applying lip balm is completely different from using a cellphone, especially applying lip balm at a stop light...