Police Plan Crackdown on Cell Phone Wielding Motorists

Anyone who plans to send that last minute text while driving today may want to wait. The Rohnert Park Police Department will be on high alert for people using their cell phones while driving to text or surf the net.

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month, and today's campaign is part of the police's ongoing efforts to make the roadways safer.

Drivers who break the law and place themselves and others in danger will be cited with no warnings, according to a police press release. 

"The current minimum ticket cost is $159, with subsequent tickets costing at least $279," the release stated. "Last April, over 57,000 tickets were written statewide for texting and hand-held cell use. There were nearly 450,000 convictions in 2012."

Distracted driving is a serious traffic safety concern that puts everyone on the road at risk. In recent years, hundreds have been killed and thousands seriously injured in California as a result of collisions that involved at least one driver who was distracted.

Nationally, an estimated 3,331 died in 2011 according to police. As a result, law enforcement across the state, including Rohnert Park DPS are increasingly cracking down on cell phone use and texting.

This April will see over 225 local agencies plus the CHP conducting zero tolerance enforcements. Rohnert Park DPS has deployed two motorcycle officers as well as four patrol cars ini an effort to reduce distracted driving.

“We all know that talking on our cell phones while driving is distracting, but that doesn’t stop some people from continuing to do it,” said Rohnert Park Public Safety Sergeant Aaron Johnson, “This effort is intended to educate our community about the dangers of cell phone use while driving. We hope that once people see the statistics and realize the danger involved, they will change their driving habits to help protect themselves, their families, and others on the road.”

Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves police say. 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.

Studies also 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.

When over one third of your brain’s functioning that should be on your driving moves over to cell phone talking, you can become a cell phone “zombie.”

To avoid a distracted driving ticket or crash, Rohnert Park DPS offers drivers the following tips:

• Turn off your phone and/or put it out of reach while driving
• Include in your outgoing message that you can’t answer while you are driving
• Don’t call or text anyone at a time when you think they may be driving