New Castle Supervisor Wants Police To Be Able To Check Cellphones At Crash Sites
NEW CASTLE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The supervisor of a Westchester County town wants to take his efforts against distracted driving to the next level.
New Castle Supervisor Robert Greenstein is pushing for legislation in Albany to give police the ability to check cellphones at the scene of an accident, WCBS 880's Sean Adams reported.
Due to privacy concerns, the Supreme Court has ruled they need a warrant.
"As far as privacy is concerned, there's technology out there that would basically just tell you if the phone was being used," Greenstein said. "Nobody has to read anybody's emails or find out what you were surfing online or anything like that."
Last year, New Castle launched a crackdown on distracted driving, writing more than 700 tickets in the first year -- up from just 50 the year before.
"It is to a certain extent very troubling because it doesn't appear that the problem is getting any better," Greenstein said.
In New Castle, this is personal. In 2011, 19-year-old Evan Lieberman of Chappaqua, a hamlet in the town, died following a head-on collision. Evan was a passenger, but according to a state DMV judge, the driver was texting.
