A case of someone violating the hands-free device law in 2021 was finally dismissed. What was the violation? For taking a call using the Bluetooth system in his car.
Former New Hampshire lawmaker J.R. Hoell was spotted driving in Concord with a phone in one hand and was pulled over by authorities. In all honesty, the point of Bluetooth is to make sure your device is not in your hand, so the fact that he was holding onto it while making a hands-free call makes no sense to me, but that is beside the point.
His original violation left him with a ticket that was no more than $124, an oddly specific number. This is something I would have paid instead of waiting for four years to get a better ruling. It’s about the price of a grocery trip nowadays, anyway.
The hands-free device law in N.H. was established in July of 2015 to try to stop distracted driving. This law was one Hoell himself voted against while he was in the state house because it was “poorly written.”
Hoell fought against his traffic violation, and somehow the case made it to the N.H. Supreme Court near the beginning of February. Unanimously, the court dismissed the traffic violation.
I completely understand why he received this traffic violation in the first place, even after his explanation. I would not expect the police to be aware that he wasn’t talking on his phone while he was driving by.
Also, why would he be holding the phone if he was taking a Bluetooth call? It must be easier to leave it in a cup holder or to place it on your lap instead of driving one-handed.
Maybe that’s just how I think of things because Hoell claimed to have heard about other traffic violations similar to his, although the amount of cases is unclear. Honestly, I don’t have a car, but when I used to drive my parents’, I would not pick up my phone to answer a call while it’s blasting out of the car’s speakers.
Overall, the violation should not have been dropped. Even though he technically wasn’t using his phone directly, he was holding it and was using it to make a call, even though it was through the car’s Bluetooth system. He was not hands-free while making the call, so he was violating the law.
After the whole case was settled, Hoell made sure to add that people should be paying attention to the road, like he had been doing when he was initially pulled over. I don’t know if this was a genuine message or a petty statement, but that’s really the biggest takeaway of this situation that resulted from a fine of $124.
Hayley Doda can be contacted at
hayley@kscequinox.com
