CHP is cracking down hard on Distracted Driving

[Barry]

Warning, Warning!

The CHP is starting a state wide zero-tolerance crack down on all types of distracted driving, especially texting!

More info here: https://www.chp.ca.gov/pdf/media/11-11.pdf

[Barry]

Crackdown leads to 110 citations for using cell phone while driving
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/articl...p=all&tc=pgall

By RANDI ROSSMANN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at 10:56 a.m.

Santa Rosa police officers on Monday gave out 110 citations for those driving while using cell phones, including 30 citations written in downtown Santa Rosa for driver's caught sending text messages, said Sgt. Rich Celli.
More Information:

“Heads were down. People were actually looking at their phones, texting, sending, receiving while driving through the middle of intersections,” said Celli.

“We couldn't get them all,” he said. “It was just so blatant.”

A crackdown on distracted drivers is underway throughout April in Sonoma County. CHP officers as well as other Sonoma County law enforcement agencies are also focusing on getting drivers to stop using their cell phones.

Recent crashes involving distracted drivers range from minor to fatal injuries, and they don't all involve cell phones. A motorcyclist lost control of his bike on Highway 101 over the weekend while pointing out a coyote on a nearby hillside, bringing down two other motorcyclists.

But there also was the 18-year-old driver allegedly using her phone the night of Dec. 1, when she hit a Rohnert Park woman and her toddler girl in a crosswalk. The girl died and the woman suffered critical injuries.

Texting drivers often are difficult to catch as drivers typically have stopped by the time officers pull them over.

But Monday Santa Rosa officers on bicycles and motorcycles caught many drivers allegedly with their thumbs on their tiny keyboards.

“We would pull right up and tap on the window and interrupt them while they were texting,” he said. “They didn't even know we were there. They were so engrossed in what they were doing.”

CHP officials called distracted driving a growing problem in the state. In 2009, 116 people died in crashes in California involving a distracted driver and more than 17,000 others were injured, according to CHP statistics.

April has been designated National Distracted Driving Awareness month and will include a variety of enforcement efforts aimed at reducing the problem, officials said.

The CHP received a grant to help pay for additional enforcement and officers will be attending numerous community events to talk about the problem, said CHP Officer Jon Sloat.

[Dixon]

Crackdown leads to 110 citations for using cell phone while driving

Hooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!
Go get 'em, CHP!!!!!!!!

[Imagery]

I think the only way that the CHP will make a dent in this issue is to seize the cell phone and book it into evidence. The time/date stamp on the text or the call record would be the best evidence of their actions. The thought of people losing their cell phone for (up to) 45 days until the trial...

...perhaps they'd think twice.

[boB Phelps]

Hooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!
Go get 'em, CHP!!!!!!!!

The suggestion to confiscate the cell phones of violators is excellent, similar to confiscating drugs from addict. This problem is so rampant that enforcement will always be an uphill battle. Those that continue to violate are an arrogant group, who feel as though they're above the law. I hope that law enforcement continues to put a high priority on this issue.