Sept 20, 2010: Washington Post
Greater enforcement is key for distracted-driver laws, recent crackdowns show
One of the major questions about distracted drivers has been whether they would obey the law. Drivers know it's tough to spot them when they send text messages, and that most police forces are too busy to make catching them a priority.
Ramped up enforcement in selected areas found that it is relatively easy to catch someone who has a phone pressed to his ear and quite difficult to spot someone texting. In Syracuse, they issued 4,172 citations to cellphone violators and 284 to texters. The results were similar in Hartford.
"Some officers would sit somewhere above the road, looking down," said Capt. Shannon Trice, who heads the police traffic division in Syracuse. "They found that was the most success with texting, since most people do texting in their laps."
Although both cities counted the effort as a success, neither could afford to maintain the same level of vigilance once the federal funding expired.
In what might be a turning point, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) will consider whether to endorse
a complete ban on cellphone use while driving when it begins its annual meeting Sunday.
See the complete article:
Greater enforcement is key for distracted-driver laws, recent crackdowns show