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Last month was Distracted Driving Awareness Month and to commemorate the occasion officers handed out a record number of tickets to distracted drivers in California.
Altogether law enforcement agencies handed out 57,000 tickets for trying to text or talk on their cell phones last month, according to the state's Office of Traffic Safety. That's up from the 52,000 tickets given out during April of last year. Another 3,800 tickets were handed out this year for distracted driving, which could mean drivers were trying to eat dinner, adjust their eyeliner or do something besides keep their eyes on the road. (Even adjusting your bluetooth can be dangerous.)
Texting or talking while driving is becoming a big problem, the state says. It conducted a survey of drivers and estimated that at any given time 10 percent of drivers on the road are using their cell phone. That number is even higher among drivers 16-25 years old: 18 percent of them are on their cells at any given time.
"Unfortunately, we’re seeing that the problem of cell phone use for talking and texting while driving is not going away anytime soon," OTS Director Christopher J. Murphy said in a statement. "There are those who understand the dangers and have curtailed their use, while others think the hazards apply to everyone else but them. We can’t stop until we convince everyone that they are putting their own life and others around them at risk with this perilous behavior."
