Crime & Safety
75 Driver-Texting Tickets Issued in Delaware County
The county ranked No. 4 in citations in the first year of a Pennsylvania law.
The first year of Pennsylvania's ban on texting while driving resulted in 1,302 tickets being given statewide, including 75 in Delaware County, according to an analysis by AAA Mid-Atlantic.
Delaware County police issued the fourth-most tickets among Pennsylvania counties. Philadelphia (243) and Montgomery (111) were Nos. 1 and 2.
Chester County police issued 49, ranking No. 7.
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The law took effect March 8, 2012. It made texting while driving a primary offense, which means drivers can be pulled over for it, and it carries a $50 fine.
When comparing the ratio of total population to tickets issued, using the 2011 U.S. Census Bureau population estimates, Delaware County's citation rate exceeded the state average by about 30 percent.
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Here's how ticket totals corresponded to populations elsewhere:
Place Population Driver-texting tickets Tickets per 100,000 pop. Chester County 503,897 49 9.7 Delaware County 559,494 75 13.4 Montgomery County 804,210 111 13.8 Philadelphia 1,536,471 243 15.8 Pennsylvania 12,743,948 1,302 10.2How often do you text while driving? Are you worried about getting ticketed? Please tell us in the comments section below.
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