{"id":974,"date":"2011-03-30T09:16:15","date_gmt":"2011-03-30T16:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/?p=974"},"modified":"2011-03-30T09:16:15","modified_gmt":"2011-03-30T16:16:15","slug":"smpd-joins-effort-to-crack-down-on-cell-phone-use-and-texting-while-driving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/?p=974","title":{"rendered":"SMPD Joins Effort to Crack Down on Cell Phone Use and Texting While Driving"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How often do you see drivers texting or talking with hand-held cell phones and wish they would be stopped and cited?\u00a0 As part of California\u2019s first <em>Distracted Driving Awareness Month<\/em> in April, law enforcement in California will be holding zero tolerance days for cell phone use and texting.\u00a0 A ticket for violating either the hands free or no texting law costs a minimum of $159, and subsequent tickets cost $279.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Distracted driving is a serious traffic safety concern that puts everyone on the road at risk, joining speeding and alcohol as leading factors in fatal and serious injury crashes.\u00a0 As a result, law enforcement across the state, including Sierra Madre is increasingly cracking down on cell phone use and texting.\u00a0 Starting April 4<sup>th<\/sup> and throughout the month, the Sierra Madre Police Department will join over 225 local agencies plus 103 CHP Area Commands conducting zero tolerance enforcements.<\/p>\n<p>Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.\u00a0 Younger, inexperienced drivers under 20 years old have the highest proportion of distraction-related fatal crashes.\u00a0\u00a0 In addition, studies show that texting while driving can delay a driver\u2019s reaction time just as severely as having a blood alcohol content of a legally drunk driver.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe recognize that convincing drivers to refrain from using cell phones or texting while driving isn\u2019t easy,\u201d said Office of Traffic Safety Director Christopher J. Murphy.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to resist the urge to check an incoming text or answer a cell phone call. That\u2019s why we are stepping up enforcement and public awareness efforts. Convincing California drivers\u2019 to wear seat belts 20 years ago wasn\u2019t easy either, but in 2010 more than 96 percent buckled up and thousands of lives were saved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Studies show that there is no difference in the risks between hands-free and hand-held cell phone conversations, both of which can result in \u201cinattention blindness\u201d which occurs when the brain isn\u2019t seeing what is clearly visible because the drivers focus is on the phone conversation and not on the road.<\/p>\n<p>There are simple measures drivers can take to minimize distractions in the vehicle:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Turn your phone off or put it out of reach before starting the car.<\/li>\n<li>Alert callers that you are unable to take calls when driving by changing your voicemail message.<\/li>\n<li>Make it a point not to call or text anyone who may be driving, such as during the commute to and from work or school, especially parents calling teen drivers.<\/li>\n<li>If you do need to make an important call or respond to a text message, pull over to a safe place to do so.<\/li>\n<li>If going cold turkey is too much of a stretch and you just can\u2019t turn your phone off, consider using one of the available mobile phone apps that holds calls and incoming texts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cWe just want drivers to use some common sense when they\u2019re behind the wheel and focus on driving,\u201d said Murphy.\u00a0 \u201cThink about the vast majority of calls and texts you send or receive everyday.\u00a0 Were any really worth a $159 ticket \u2013 or worse, a crash, injury or death?\u00a0 It\u2019s just not worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How often do you see drivers texting or talking with hand-held cell phones and wish they would be stopped and cited?\u00a0 As part of California\u2019s first Distracted Driving Awareness Month in April, law enforcement in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[225],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sierramadrenews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}