Distracted Driving Enforcement Campaign to Kick Off in Southington

SOUTHINGTON, CT — Southington police will embark on a month-long campaign to thwart distracted driving beginning news week.

The enforcement efforts are slated to begin opn April 4 and run thropugh to April 30, as part of the "U Drive ... U Text ... U Pay" campaign, a high-visibility effort to enforce distracted-driving laws, police said.

“Everyone knows texting and driving is illegal and dangerous, and everyone

knows they shouldn’t be doing it—but we see it happen all the time,” Southington Police Chief
Jack Daly said. “Beginning April 4th, you will see stepped-up law enforcement efforts.
Officers will be stopping and ticketing anyone who is caught texting and driving. If
you text and drive, you will pay.”

Drivers who are ticketed can be fined $150 for a first offense, $300 for a second
offense and $500 for third and subsequent offenses, police said.

According to federal statistics, 3,477 people were killed and an estimated 391,000
injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers in 2015.

That is a 9- percent increase in fatalities as compared to the previous year.

An analysis by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety that examined 2009 to 2012 data found
that while more than 80 percent of drivers believed it was completely unacceptable
for a motorist to text behind the wheel, more than a third of those same drivers
admitted to reading text messages while operating a passenger motor vehicle
themselves.

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