How Your iPhone Can Get You Out of a Traffic Ticket

Lonnie Lazar ()

How Your iPhone Can Get You Out of a Traffic TicketGreat story over the weekend from a TUAW reader who related how being able to produce evidence of his auto insurance saved him from getting a $200 ticket and having his driver’s license pulled after being involved in an auto accident somewhere in the snowy Midwest.

Seems the poor guy couldn’t produce an insurance card for the county sheriff who showed up to investigate the fender-bender, but while Johnny Law was writing up the paperwork, the quick-thinking iPhone user logged into his GEICO account and was able to satisfy the officer’s yen for documentation by having GEICO email a PDF of his insurance card, which the lucky driver produced on his iPhone touchscreen. The cop accepted it as proof of insurance and did not issue the citation.

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About the author

Lonnie Lazar

Lonnie Lazar is a writer-musician-web designer-attorney. He writes about Apple for Cult of Mac and Mac|Life, and about VoIP and telecommunications for Voxilla. Follow Lonnie on Twitter @LonnieLazar, join the Cult of Mac on Facebook, and find Lonnie's photos on Flickr.

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  • David

    Don’t rely on this, especially in Colorado. I tried to show the officer my insurance on the iPhone during a fender bender, and he refused to look at it, stating that it needed to be a physical copy. I was able to print it out when I got home and take it to the courthouse, but I was still issued the citation on the scene.

  • http://www.BriefEpisode.com Gib Wallis

    Producing documentation on iPhones sometimes works, even in airport for security.

    For the Colarado commenter, you should look up the law, you should see if there’s a precedent in other jurisdictions, and go to court and fight it.

    If the law as written doesn’t say that you have to have it in on paper or in a form that the officer can keep, then your case will be stronger.

    Officers make mistaken citations all the time, so if the ticket is $50 or higher, I’d say fight it and set a precedent.

  • Brad C

    On Colorado, they are pretty harsh on no insurance. If no proof, they physically take your license and issue you a paper one and you have to go to court, etc. P.I.T.A.

    My wife was in a fender bender in Indiana and she was licensed in IN at the time. A month later, she switched to Colorado and somehow IN didn’t get some paper, IN took her driving privilege away. Didn’t find out until almost two years after when she did a motorcycle endorsement on her CO license and CO wouldn’t issue her a license until she was reinstated in Indiana. License suspensions are reported to the US-DOT’s National Driver Registry/Problem Driver Pointer System (NDR/PDPS). Paid the reinstatement fee to IN, waited 72 hours and she was good to go ! BTW in Indiana, no insurance, for the first time, it is 90 day suspension, 8 points against your driving privilege plus a $150 reinstatement fee. The interesting thing, nothing of this showed up on her CO record. Colorado is nice concerning out of state tickets except suspensions. Once reinstated, it doesn’t even show. Didn’t have to pay reinstatement to CO since O never suspended her in the first place. Just couldn’t renew or get a new license.

  • Darcy McGee

    Or you could just keep it in your glove box, as required by law…

    Where else are you needing your car insurance that you’re not keeping it in your car?