In support of April’s National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, the Milford and Orange police, along with the Connecticut Department of Transportation Highway Safety Office, will be partnering with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from April 2 to April 30, for the national “U Drive. U Text. U Pay.” high-visibility enforcement effort.
The goal of the campaign is to step up enforcement efforts to catch distracted drivers and enforce distracted-driving laws.
Over the past decade, distracted driving has become one of the leading causes of vehicle crashes on U.S. roads. According to the NHTSA, nearly 20,000 people died in crashes involving a distracted driver between 2012 and 2017. There were 3,166 people killed in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers in 2017 alone. While this represents a 9 percent decrease in distracted driving fatalities from 2016 to 2017, police say there is clearly more work to be done.
“People know texting and driving is dangerous and illegal, but many do it anyway, putting others at risk,” said Joseph Giulietti, commissioner of the Connecticut DOT. “Beginning April 2, you will see increased law enforcement efforts as officers will be stopping and ticketing anyone who is caught texting and driving.”
Since 2015, nearly 30,000 crashes in Connecticut have involved a distraction, resulting in 41 fatal crashes.
“It seems that every day, you can look out of your car’s window and see a driver using their cell phone,” said Lt. James Gosselin, Support Services commander for the Berlin Police Department. “It is painfully obvious to law enforcement when you are driving distracted. If you text and drive, you will pay.”
Violating Connecticut’s distracted-driving laws can be costly. Drivers who are ticketed are fined $150 for the first offense, $300 for the second offense, and $500 for the third and subsequent offenses.