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This effort is part of a larger campaign sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – which deems April as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Norwalk police are participating in this campaign by adding special patrols aimed at catching distracted drivers, especially those on their phones.
“Driving and texting is illegal and irresponsible. People who break our state’s texting law will be stopped and fined. If you drive and text in the city of Norwalk, you will pay,” said Chief Thomas Kulhawik. “For those who say that driving and texting is an epidemic, we believe enforcement of our hand-held mobile phone ban law is part of the cure. Our officers will be patrolling throughout the city to ensure compliance.”
Under Connecticut’s cellphone and texting law, violations involve heavy fines, ranging from $150 for a first offense, $300 for a second violation and $500 for each subsequent violation. As many as 50 law enforcement agencies, including state and local police, will take part in the mobilization to enforce Connecticut’s tough law that prohibits motorists from texting and/or using hand-held cell phones while driving. The crackdown will span all of April.
During a similar, three-week campaign last September, over 7,000 motorists received a citation for using their phone while driving. In 2013, 3,154 people were killed and an estimated additional 424,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers. According to a 2014 special article in the New England Journal of Medicine, the risk of a crash or near-crash among novice drivers increased with the performance of many secondary tasks, including texting and dialing cellphones.
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