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Trenton
– Highway traffic safety and local police
officials today unveiled a new cell phone
enforcement pilot program designed to enhance
efforts to stop motorists from texting and
using hand-held cell phones when behind the
wheel.
Known as “Hang Up, Just Drive,”
the initiative provides grants of $4,000 each
to 18 local police departments for identifying
and stopping motorists who they observe texting
or talking on a hand-held cell phone while
driving. Beginning March 2 and running through
March 15, the two-week program will help to
further increase compliance with New Jersey’s
primary cell phone law, which has been in
effect since March 1, 2008.
According to Division of Highway Traffic Safety
Director Pam Fischer, the initiative will
send a strong message to motorists that this
behavior is not only illegal, but dangerous.
“We
know that in 2007, driver inattention was
a contributing factor in 22,641 traffic crashes.
Of these crashes, 1,866 crashes involved hand-held
phones and 1,421 involved talking hands-free,”
Fischer said. “A driver’s attention
should be focused solely on driving, period.
Any phone conversation, whether it’s
hand-held or hands-free, is distracting and
can instantly take a driver’s mind and
eyes off the road, creating a potentially
deadly situation.”
Under the new effort, police officers will
be positioned both on the street and in police
vehicles at various intersections in their
municipality, where they can observe drivers
who may be violating the cell phone law. If
a violation is observed, the vehicle will
be pulled over and the driver issued a citation.
Fischer
added that according to a Fairleigh Dickenson
University PublicMinds Poll of New Jersey
motorists, 59 percent say they never use a
hand-held cell phone while driving, yet 79
percent say that they see others violating
the law.
“The
public perception is that this law is not
being enforced, and that’s simply not
true,” Fischer stated. “Between
March 1, 2008 and January, 2009 — the
first 11 months the primary cell phone law
has been in effect — more than 108,000
tickets were issued to cell phone violators.
Clearly, the law is being enforced, and this
new effort will further the good work police
departments throughout New Jersey are already
doing to stop cell phone violators.”
As
part of the Division’s efforts to continue
educating both residents and visitors to New
Jersey about the state’s primary cell
phone law, posters will be placed in rest
stops on both the New Jersey Turnpike and
the Garden State Parkway. Palm cards with
information on the law will also be distributed
to the public through traffic safety and law
enforcement agencies.
A
list of the police agencies receiving grants
for this initiative can be found at, www.nj.gov/oag/hts/grants/grantees.html.
Additional information on New Jersey’s
cell phone law and educational materials that
can be downloaded to increase public awareness,
are available on the Division’s web
site, at www.njsaferoads.com.
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