The following information was submitted by the Derby Police Department.
Click here for a story from the Valley Indy on last year’s campaign.
The Derby Police Department, along with the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s Highway Safety Office, this week announced the continuation of the “U DRIVE. U TEXT. U PAY.” initiative.
It’s an effort to crackdown on motorists who choose to text, talk or distract themselves from the task of driving by using a mobile phone.
According to surveys conducted during last year’s crackdown, there was an eight percent drop in mobile phone use by drivers at observation locations throughout municipalities where police conducted enforcement.
The drop in observed use is encouraging to law enforcement agencies, and demonstrates the need to reinforce the idea of mobile phone use while driving is both dangerous and illegal.
The campaign will run from August 3 – 16 and marks the second time this year law enforcement agencies will mobilize by adding special patrols aimed at catching distracted drivers, especially those on their phones. During the last operation in April 2016, more than 12,000 citations were issued to motorists who chose to ignore Connecticut’s distracted driving laws.
Nearly 50 law enforcement agencies including both state and local police are again participating in this operation – aimed at keeping Connecticut’s roadways safe.
“We’re making gains,” Lt. Justin Stanko of Derby Police Department said. “Considering the seriousness of this problem and the fact that we saw movement in the right direction is a sign we need to continue to this program.”
