I was pleased to read in the Friday, April 29 edition the article about the increasing enforcement and greater fines for texting while driving in Oxford and the state.

As the headline indicated this is a serious issue. And not only texting, but just talking on the phone while driving has been determined to be as detrimental to driving as having a blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent.

I was disappointed that talking on a cellphone while driving was not included in this new enforcement. The one question I have is whether this will apply also to police officers. I cannot think of the last time I was behind or beside a local police or sheriff’s car and the driver was not talking or texting on their cellphone. Are police allowed to text and talk on cellphones in non-emergency situations? If the police are going to crack down on texting maybe they should put their cellphones down as well.

John Juergens

Oxford