681 Tickets Issued in 1st Year of Distracted Driving Campaign

In the first year of New Castle’s crackdown on distracted driving, town police have issued 681 tickets for Distracted Driving: 470 for use of a Handheld Mobile Device (texting) and 211 for use of a Cell Phone.

Just how big a deal is that?

For the same period one year earlier, 50 distracted driving tickets were issued, town officials said in a statement describing the success of the Hands Off the Phone initiative.[NOCIRC]

“The program has been a success,” said New Castle Police Chief Charles Ferry.

The initiative was conceived by town officials and Chappaqua residents Ben and Debbie Lieberman, who lost their 19-year-old son Evan in 2011 following a car collision caused by distracted driving. The Liebermans set up an nonprofit called D.O.R.C.s, which is short for Distracted Operators Risk Casualties, and which has a pithy motto: Keep the DORCs off the Road.

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The local initiative is two-pronged, aiming to boost both enforcement and awareness.

“We believe there is a need to tackle distracted driving in a similar fashion to how drunk driving was addressed decades ago,” Ben Lieberman said last year.

It includes banners, magnets and decals all over town and a “zero tolerance policy” for distracted drivers.

“When driving around New Castle, you can’t help but notice the distracted driving banners throughout town, and magnets on cars,” Town Supervisor Rob Greenstein said in a prepared statement. “We have given out 5,000 distracted driving magnets. I am very proud of the leadership role in fighting this national epidemic. Chief Ferry and his traffic officers have done an incredible job!”

Ferry said it is time to move into phase two--training officers on techniques to enforce texting laws on municipal roadways and raising officer awareness that mobile devices should be investigated as a contributing factor as part of crash investigations.

“There is very little police protocol in place to determine whether distracted driving is a factor in collisions,” Ben Lieberman said. “I look forward to taking this successful initiative to the next level.”

Here’s the law: Violators face a fine and 5 points on their drivers license. Probationary and junior drivers convicted of a cell phone use or texting violation will have their license suspended for 60 days. Fines and suspensions increase for subsequent convictions.