If you reside in Windcrest, a metropolis northeast of San Antonio, the times of getting pulled over by the cops for breaking sure visitors legal guidelines—disgrace on you, however no judgement right here—are over. Police will simply textual content you a warning or ticket. And hey, when you’re a very good driver, they could even ship you a thumbs up.

Windcrest will launch the brand new Trusted Driver Program on Saturday, which goals to scale back the interplay between police and the general public for minor visitors violations. The web-based program is the primary of its variety within the U.S. and permits officers to ship drivers an SMS message with data on their visitors violation—and positive—if relevant, as a substitute of pulling them over.

Val Garcia, a former San Antonio Police Department officer and CEO of the Trusted Driver Program, advised local station KEN5 that this system was not a 100% answer, nevertheless it was a “step forward in the right direction.”

“If we minimize those interactions just for minor traffic violations, [police] have more time to dedicate to serious crime like [individuals drinking while intoxicated] that are on the road, reckless drivers, racing,” Garcia mentioned.

Windcrest is the primary metropolis to pilot this system, though it’d broaden to different cities sooner or later.

Signing up for the free program appears to be simple. Drivers in Windcrest should go to the Trusted Driver Program website to create a profile and supply their title, deal with, automobile, insurance coverage data, and electronic mail deal with, amongst others. They may select to offer any voluntary disclosures, comparable to disabilities or medical circumstances.

This data, which might embrace, for instance, whether or not you’re deaf, have PTSD, autism, diabetes, or one other bodily incapacity, may be key if officers don’t have any selection however to tug somebody over, Garcia defined.

“It really gives an officer information faster in the field to handle a traffic stop if it does occur and be able to deescalate,” Garcia mentioned.

The Trusted Driver Program says it is going to by no means promote, share, or present the data that customers embrace of their profiles to any vendor or firm.

As explained by KEN5, police utilizing the Trusted Driver Program that witness a minor visitors violation proceed to run your automotive’s license plate and make sure you’re the motive force. (Users will most likely should add an image to the web site to allow the latter, however we weren’t in a position to confirm this once we tried to enroll on Friday for the reason that service launches on Saturday).

The officer will then pull up your Trusted Driver Program data and ship you a warning or ticket through textual content. On the flip aspect, police may ship drivers textual content messages once they’re doing a very good job following visitors legal guidelines. (Whether these messages will provoke pleasure or anxiousness earlier than they’re learn isn’t clear but, as a result of who ever received a textual content from a cop from doing a very good factor?)

Besides getting rid of visitors stops, the Trusted Driver Program additionally lets customers pay and handle tickets on-line. According to the program’s website, customers pays their fines the identical day, contest tickets in a “virtual courtroom,” or get a ticket dismissed by taking a web based defensive driving course.

Nonetheless, regardless that police can talk with you thru this system, that doesn’t imply they’re in a position to monitor your location. Trusted Driver Program officers additionally stress that individuals that join this system aren’t extra prone to get visitors tickets. The objective of this system is to not generate income, they preserve.

“Being a member means you are actively improving transport safety through a safer, digital dialogue. Additionally, electronic citations are only issued by officers who witness a minor violation,” officers mentioned on this system’s web site. “Trusted Driver is not connected to any digital traffic surveillance systems that could increase the likelihood of being fined.”