Law enforcement officials from the Springfield Police Department will be cracking down on distracted drivers as part of the annual “UDrive. UText. UPay.” Distracted Driving Crackdown.
Beginning April 1, 2022 and continuing through April 30, 2022, local, county, and state law enforcement officials will conduct roving patrols and fixed checkpoints looking for motorists who may be distracted while driving.
The national effort is designed to raise awareness about the dangers of distracted driving, to offer deterrence through visible enforcement, and to issue summonses for relevant motor vehicle violations.
Distracted driving is a dangerous epidemic on America’s roadways. In 2018 alone, 2,841 people were killed in distracted driving crashes. Driver inattention has remained the most frequently cited cause of fatal and incapacitating crashes in NJ, over seven times higher than the total crashes cited for unsafe speed over the past five years (2015-2019). Unsafe speed was the contributing circumstance in 5.4 percent of all crashes in 2019, a decrease from 6 percent in 2018. Driver inattention was a contributing circumstance in nearly 49 percent of crashes in 2019, down from 50 percent in 2018.
The Springfield Police Department would like to remind all drivers that distracted driving is any activity that diverts a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving. All distractions endanger driver, passenger, and bystander safety. These distractions include:
- Texting
- Using a cell phone or smartphone
- Eating and drinking
- Talking to passengers
- Grooming
- Reading, including maps
- Using a navigation system
- Watching a video
- Adjusting a radio, CD player, or MP3 player
But, because using a hand-held cell phone while driving to make calls or send text messages requires visual, manual, and cognitive attention from the driver, they are by far the most alarming distractions.
