I think legislation has value in raising public awareness in forums like this one but it will be difficult to solely legislate our way out of this issue. I just read that 72% of teens text daily - many text more 4000 times a month. New college students no longer have email addresses! They use texting and Facebook - even with their professors. This text and drive issue is in its infancy and its not going away.

I decided to do something about it after my three year old daughter was nearly run down right in front of me by a texting driver . Instead of a shackle that locks down phones and alienates the user (especially teens) I built a tool called OTTER that is a simple, affordable app for smartphones.. I think if we can empower the individual then change will come to our highways now and not just our laws.

Erik Wood, owner

OTTER LLC

OTTER app

As a cyclist who respects the rules of the road, I hope cyclists who talk/text while riding will also be ticketed.

A few weeks ago I saw a woman driving a top down Mercedes convertible while talking on her hand held phone. She then made a right turn with her free hand onto 40th Street from 3rd avenue. Some of the pedestrians who were crossing with the light started yelling at her but she continued inching through the crowd, still talking. When she was finally past the crowd she hit the gas, ran the light on The Tunnel Exit Street and just kept talking. This is why the law has to be enforced every day and not occasionally . Incidentally it is not that unusual to see a Police Officer talking on a Cellphone while driving.

you guys should have thrown a cup of coffee in her car. I find cups of hot coffee can be used as weapons. Not that I've done that because I can't afford a cup of joe.

I was wondering what was going on this morning. I saw 5 cars pulled over on the GCP heading East from Astoria (also a bunch on the westbound side), all undercover cars. Traffic was insane because of it, but if it's for cell phone tickets I'm all for it.

$130 is not enough - should be at least $250

Good, I hope they get the prick who almost hit me with his car because he was too busy texting while making a left on Park to actually see me crossing the street.

Quota or not you're still parked illegally, still driving while talking on your phone, still stealing... You got caught, you got a ticket, deal with it.

Yeah, but all the other days of the year, you can pretty much get away with murder in the car (sometimes literally) because NYPD looks the other way.

Its end of the month fill those quotas time. The NYPD's job now is not to fight crime, its to generate a revenue stream, so this is the crackdown of the week.