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Ventura County Sheriff’s Office to participate in California’s Distracted Driving Awareness Month
By Ventura County Sheriff Department — Monday, April 4th, 2011
 Ventura County Sheriff's Department How often do you see drivers texting or talking with hand-held cell phones and wish they would be stopped and cited? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has identified texting and cell phone use as the fastest growing and most visible distraction contributing to traffic collisions. As a result, the California Office of Traffic Safety has declared the month of April as California’s first Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Distracted driving is a serious traffic safety concern that puts everyone on the road at risk, joining speeding and alcohol as leading factors in fatal and serious injury crashes. Starting April 4th and continuing throughout the month, The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, including all incorporated cities that contract with the Sheriff’s Office for police services, will partner with the Office of Traffic Safety and begin conducting zero tolerance enforcement for drivers talking on their cell phones or texting while driving. Additionally, over 225 law enforcement agencies across the state plus 103 CHP Area Commands will also be participating in this enforcement operation. In April, law enforcement officers in Ventura County will also be holding zero tolerance days for cell phone use and texting. A ticket for violating either the hands free or no texting law costs a minimum of $159 and subsequent tickets cost $279. Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. Younger, inexperienced drivers under 20 years old have the highest proportion of distraction-related fatal crashes. In addition, studies show that texting while driving can delay a driver’s reaction time just as severely as having a blood alcohol content of a legally intoxicated driver. Studies show that there is no difference in the risks between hands-free and hand-held cell phone conversations, both of which can result in “inattention blindness” which occurs when the brain isn’t seeing what is clearly visible because the drivers’ focus is on the phone conversation and not on the road. The Sheriff’s Department would like to take this opportunity to remind drivers that there are simple measures they can take to minimize distractions while they are driving: • Turn your phone off or put it out of reach before starting the car. Location: Ventura County |
