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Police using big rigs to catch texting drivers

Highway patrol officers in Tennessee have had enough of you texting at the wheel. So they are lifting themselves up to get a better view of you.

Clever?
Fox 5 Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

Police ingenuity knows no bounds these days.

No sooner had we heard that some police forces were shooting GPS bullets out of their car grills than another piece of agile thinking lumbered its way to our attention.

In Tennessee, police have become a tad frustrated with their inability to catch texter-drivers.

After all, police cars are at the same level as many others. They're lower down than SUVs. So what to do?

Get yourself a big rig, that's what.

DC News FOX 5 DC WTTG

As Fox 5 reports, Highway patrol officers in Knoxville invested in huge semi trucks.

They then roll on down the highway, hoping to get a better angle on those who really need to text Sweet Pea Marie about their new hairdo.

Some might think that the police aren't playing fair. These big rigs must be unmarked, right?

But, no. These larger than life patrol vehicles are marked and have lights and sirens.

This little two-day sting operation isn't the first time that Tennessee law enforcement has tried this innovative ruse.

In March, state troopers in Chattanooga used a big rig seized in a 2003 drug bust to roll on down the highway in search of low-riding texter-drivers.

I wonder whether the rest of the nation will soon follow suit and we will see hundreds more big rigs with flashing lights screaming down highways in pursuit of the technologically arrogant.

In Silicon Valley, of course, police might ask Google to create a few self-driving big rigs. That would surely deter potential offenders.