\n<\/p>\n
\u201cHad an officer observed the driver with the phone in their hand, they could have issued the driver an infraction ticket for violating California\u2019s handsfree law,\u201d writes Palo Alto PD Captain James Reifschneider. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cAs no officer witnessed it happening in person at the time of occurrence, though, no ticket is forthcoming,\u201d he told me via email. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Let me be clear: I\u2019m pretty sure Palo Alto Police have better things to do than chase down the world\u2019s richest man for a $20 fine. (That\u2019s the only punishment for a first offense \u2014 you can get a point against your driving record for a second offense, but only if it happens within three years of the first violation.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But Musk has been known to repeatedly flout the law \u2014 see my linkbox \u2014 and some are beginning to question his power. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow recently published \u201cElon Musk\u2019s Shadow Rule\u201d<\/a> at The New Yorker<\/em>, a piece of reporting that shows, among other things, how SpaceX\u2019s Starlink satellites became so important to the war in Ukraine that the US government was forced to treat him with kid gloves. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHe is more like a nation-state than an individual in terms of the implications of his power,\u201d Farrow told Fresh Air<\/em><\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n