As part of April’s Distracted Driving Awareness Month campaign, the Gardena Police Department will join with more than 200 other local law enforcement agencies and the California Highway Patrol in a month-long “zero tolerance” enforcement and education campaign to curb those texting or operating hand-held cell phones while driving.
Officers will be on alert throughout the month for those who break the cell phone laws and place themselves and others in danger.
As part of April’s Distracted Driving Awareness Month campaign, the Gardena Police Department will join with more than 200 other local law enforcement agencies and the California Highway Patrol in a month-long “zero tolerance” enforcement and education campaign to curb those texting or operating hand-held cell phones while driving.
Officers will be on alert throughout the month for those who break the cell phone laws and place themselves and others in danger.
“We take the issue of distracted driving very seriously, because we see the aftermath of these totally preventable crashes,” Gardena police Lt. Steven Prendergast said. “Is that text message or cell phone call really worth $161, or worse, someone’s life?”
Special high visibility enforcement operations to cite cell phone violators will take place on April 3-17.
The increased enforcement and education aims to persuade drivers to recognize the dangers of distracted driving and reduce the number of people impacted by this perilous behavior. The “It’s Not Worth It!” theme emphasizes that a phone call or text isn’t worth a hefty fine or a collision.
The current minimum ticket cost is $161, with subsequent tickets costing at least $281.
Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.
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.
According to research, sending or receiving a text takes a driver's eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds. Even a three-second glance at freeway speeds means a driver has traveled the distance of a football field.
Research shows that there is no difference in the risks between hands-free and hand-held cell phone conversations, police said. Both 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.”
