Distracted driving is an issue throughout the United States, and it is responsible for taking countless innocent lives each year. Although most states have issued numerous warnings and implemented serious bans on texting and driving, the problem does not seem to be going away.
In honor of April being the start of Distracted Driving Awareness Month, police departments in Texas, Washington and New Jersey have launched several different campaigns and received grants that will place a whopping number of officers on the lookout for distracted drivers.
Perpetrators in Washington should expect to be issued a $136 ticket if caught using a cell phone or smartphone while driving. Similarly, a total of 200 state, county and local law enforcement agencies across New Jersey have received grants to send out extra patrols to look out for drivers who are using a phone without a hands-free device. Finally, the Texas Department of Transportation has launched a “Talk, Text, Crash” campaign that will implement serious penalties for distracted drivers.
“Consider your actions and the consequences before you engage in that sort of behavior,” said TxDOT spokesman Val Lopez.
Although more emphasis has been put on the dangers of distracted driving, the trend does not seem to be dying down. In Washington, deaths caused by distracted driving rose by 30 percent from 2014 to 2015. A total of 817,000 motor vehicle crashes on New Jersey roadways have occurred from 2010 to 2014 due to distracted driving. Meanwhile, in Texas, a total of 452 people were killed from distracted driving crashes in 2015 alone.
Despite the rising statistics, the TxDOT says that 38 percent of all drivers still admit to using their phones while driving. “Alarmingly, some of the drivers ages 19-24 believe that their dangerous driving behavior is acceptable,” said Tracy Noble, spokesperson for American Automobile Association Mid-Atlantic. “It’s critical that these drivers understand the potentially deadly consequences of engaging in these types of behaviors and that they change their behavior and attitudes in order to reverse the growing number of fatalities on U.S. roads.”
Distracted driving is any activity that diverts a driver’s attention away from the road such as eating, grooming or, the most commonly committed, texting and talking on the phone. While April is recognized as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, representatives of AAA urge drivers to put down their phones while driving not only in April, but year-round.
All three states are expected to enforce this distracted driver crackdown throughout the entire month of April.