California Highway Patrol issues nearly 20,000 citations for distracted driving in April
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) says in a release that 19,850 citations were issued statewide in April to drivers who allegedly violated hands-free cell phone laws.
This happened during a statewide public education campaign about the danger of distracted driving. This year’s total is a 3.6% increase from April of 2018. On April 4 and 19 alone, 2,495 citations were issued for alleged hands-free law violations.
It was not just phone violations they looked for, but other distractions as well like eating, putting on makeup, reaching for a fallen object or using a car’s touch screen. While these are dangerous for any driver, they are even more so for new drivers.
Dr. Kelly Browning, executive director of IDT, a nonprofit that educates teens about reckless and distracted driving, says, “Seventy-five percent of fatal teen car crashes do not involve drugs or alcohol, but everyday behaviors become lethal when a new inexperienced driver chooses to engage in them behind the wheel.”
According to a 2018 survey by UC Berkeley, nearly half of all drivers listed distracted driving with cellphones as their biggest concern on the road.
The CHP reminds drivers that they are not allowed to hold a wireless phone or electronics for communication while driving. Drivers under the age of 18 cannot use phones at all while driving, even if they are hands-free.
