It’s so tempting to pick up the phone when you’re driving. When it’s ringing or your alerts are beeping, what’s on the road in front of you seems to be less important than finding out who is trying to get in touch with you. But having your cell phone in your hand and choosing to text while driving means you aren’t paying attention to the road, and if you’re caught texting while driving in Connecticut law enforcement are ready, willing, and able to give you a ticket.
A new distracted driving campaign crackdown called “Phone in One Hand, Ticket in the Other” has begun in Connecticut, and within the first hour of setting up a checkpoint, law enforcement pulled over a dozen people and cited them for distracted driving.
But receiving a ticket should be the least of your worries if you choose to text while driving. One of the reasons you’re seeing an increase in law enforcement ticketing drivers who use cell phone is that distracted driving has serious consequences, not just for you but for the people on the road with you. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has statistics that show over 420,000 people were hurt in distracted driving crashes in 2012, and distraction is a key factor in over 4 million crashes in North America every year.
Although adults fall into the category of distracted drivers, teens are the category of drivers who are most likely to text while driving, and they’re dying because of it. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 45% of the 2000 teens involved in distracted driving crashes in 2011 were killed.
The summer roads are busier than ever, and that means hundreds of distracted drivers could be talking or texting as you drive down the highway with them. Law enforcement across the country is working to keep you safe by cracking down on cell phone use while driving, and you can help by putting your phone safely away before getting behind the wheel.