Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Virginia

Virginia Anti-Texting Law

Hello,

As you know many states are now enforcing laws about cell phone use while driving. Virginia will begin enforcing an anti-texting law this coming week. The law seems to state that a driver can not send or read a text message while operating a motor vehicle. My questions are simple; how can police possibly enforce this law? and how can a citizen ever defend himself against these charges?

- A police officer in another vehicle may be able to tell if someone is blatantly typing away on their phone, but 'reading' messages is simply not something that can be determined from outside the citizens vehicle. If you were to look at your phone for any reason (to see you GPS directions for instance) or in your lap for that matter, what would keep a cop from being able to pull you over under suspicion of texting and how could you ever prove you were not. Surely Sprint is not going to supply you with a data transmission log for you to be able to present in court. Even if you did not have a cell phone with you the officer could simple say that you must hid the device before he got to the car. Thank you for your time, and I appreciate any input that you may have.

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