Crime & Safety

Nine Cited in First Day of "Distracted Driver Awareness Month"

Rohnert Park police are ticketing more motorists driving while using cell phones, ramped up patrolling began Friday.

Rohnert Park police said they cited nine motorists Friday for driving while talking on a cell phone on the first day of  a special  "Distracted Driving Awareness Month" enforcement.

"We're taking a zero tolerance attitude about driving with a cell phone," said Rohnert Park Sgt. Jason Krauss, who participated in the special enforcement detail.

"Driving while talking on a cell phone is on the rise signficantly," Krauss said. "It's contributing to a lot of collisions."

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Citations carry fines and penalties of up to $159, Krauss said.  California's Office of Traffic Safety, which is running the program in the state as part of a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration effort, has selected April as the first "Distracted Driving Awareness Month."

The crackdown on distracted driving is part of a statewide push by police to drive home the message that texting and driving don't go hand in hand. In fact, more than 225 local agencies along with 103 CHP area commands throughout California will conduct special enforcement actions this month.

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According to police, 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 drunk driver. 

Driving and talking on the phone is dangerous even when using a hands-free phone because the brain isn’t seeing what is clearly visible because the drivers’ focus is on the phone conversation and not on the road, police say.

Karina Ioffee contributed to this report.


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