Police Pretending to Be Plants Catch 74 Drivers Using Their Phones in Just Six Hours

      Dunellen Borough Police Department via Facebook

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      If you find yourself driving through suburban New Jersey and spot some shrubbery equipped with binoculars, you’re not imagining things. You’re simply doing what you should: focusing on the road.

      To catch more drivers unlawfully using their phones, authorities in Dunellen, a town in central New Jersey, took a unique approach. One officer donned a sniper-style ghillie suit and positioned himself beside a leafy tree on a main street in the town, on the lookout for drivers violating the statewide phone ban. A Facebook update from the Dunellen Borough Police Department revealed that this unconventional tactic resulted in 74 tickets for distracted driving within just six hours.

      Dunellen Borough Police Department via Facebook

      As if getting caught by an officer disguised as a bush isn’t embarrassing enough, the post also features a picture of a man with a walkie-talkie wearing a “Not a Cop” t-shirt. You'd really have to be oblivious to fall for that.

      Considering that the offense is distracted driving, it’s debatable whether these dramatics are necessary. A driver fixated on their phone likely wouldn’t notice an obvious police officer or marked patrol car either. They also might overlook other surrounding elements—which is the issue at hand.

      Modern vehicles provide numerous distractions, from driver-assistance technologies that encourage reduced vigilance to increasingly complex dashboard controls. However, the instinctive urge to check a phone upon receiving a notification exists even in the most basic vehicles. This behavior has been associated with increased rates of rear-end collisions and speeding, as noted in separate studies by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

      In its 2022 report on rear-end accidents, the IIHS attributed the higher collision rates in California compared to neighboring states to the weak enforcement of the state’s anti-phone law, stemming from its ambiguous language. Merely having a law in place doesn’t always deter reckless behavior, which is likely why New Jersey officers are dressing up as plants. It's probably easier to refrain from using the phone than to constantly scan the surroundings for potential surveillance.