Wallingford Police Issue Hundreds of Tickets During Distracted Driving Crackdown

WALLINGFORD, CT —Wallingford Police issued 421 infractions to motorists in April as part of the state’s Department of Transportation Highway Safety Distracted Driving Enforcement Campaign.

Funding was made available to support overtime allowing Wallingford Police officers to specifically dedicate their efforts to enforce distracted driving violations.

Offenders were cited for using cell phones to engage in, among other things, conversation, texting, emailing, Facebook activities, surfing the internet, scrolling through music, and hand-held GPS navigation, all while operating their vehicle.

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While working specifically on this grant, Wallingford Police officers issued 421 infractions and/or Summonses, of which, 361 operators were cited for cell phone and/or texting violations, and 60 operators for a variety of other motor vehicle offenses, to include; failure to obey an officer’s signal, misuse of marker plates, operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license, drug offenses, drinking while driving, stop sign violations, and seatbelt violations, among others, police announced in a press release.

Although this grant has supplemented the Wallingford Police Department’s efforts in distracted driving enforcement, police said that, as they always have, will put forth a continual effort to make Wallingford roadways safer.

“We encourage those who are driving through our community not to text while driving and to use the appropriate hands-free device to conduct conversations while operating a motor vehicle,” Wallingford Police Chief William Wright said in a statement. “As evidenced by the dedication that our officers put forth in this latest initiative, and from the sheer number of violations of this most recent campaign, we are once-again reminded that our distracted driving countermeasures need to continue in order to provide our community with the safest travel experience possible.”

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