For the next two weeks, police forces throughout the state will be looking, long and hard, for drivers who are distracted. It’s part of the Division of Highway Traffic Safety’s Distracted Driving 2014 Statewide Crackdown.
Sixty police departments received $5,000 each to pay for increased patrols and checkpoints for the crackdown, which began April 1 and runs through April 21. The campaign coincides with the national Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
It’s a good start, but the state should really go further to improve public safety on our roadways.
In 2012, an estimated 421,000 people were injured in crashes involving a distracted driver, which represents a 9 percent increase over the year before, according to state data. Possibly the most public case was that of 8-month-old Angelie Paredes, who was killed last summer when a distracted bus driver lost control of the vehicle in West New York and struck a light pole that fell onto the baby’s stroller.
Distracted driving focuses on texting or talking on the phone while driving, but it also can include using a mobile phone for directions, using MP3 players, eating or putting on makeup.
The fine for a first offense of distracted driving in New Jersey is $200, but it’s a non-point-carrying offense.
We wonder if $200 and no points is enough of a deterrent to drivers. Or maybe campaigns such as this one will help, in that more drivers will be pulled over for the offense.
Either way, we believe the state, and maybe even the federal government, should step in to increase the penalties for distracted driving, and make driving in today’s mobile society easier to navigate.
Can the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration require all new vehicles to be equipped with Bluetooth technology, like it is requiring all new vehicles to have backup cameras by 2018?
While it certainly wouldn’t solve the problem, as the driver would have to have a Bluetooth-compatible device for it to work, it’s something that is becoming more standard by the day.
It wouldn’t be the solve-all to the problem of distracted driving, but it would certainly be an effective start.
