CDOT, Colorado State Patrol join forces for National Distracted Driving Awareness Month

“U Text. U Pay” high-visibility enforcement campaign that combines intense enforcement of distracted driving laws with advertising and media outreach to educate the public and gain voluntary compliance with the law.

“While distractions like texting while driving may feel harmless, they are incredibly unsafe”, said Karin Mongeon, NDDOT Safety Division director.

New Jersey starts a statewide crackdown on distracted driving Friday.

To encourage all drivers to be aware and to drop the distraction, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and Colorado State Patrol (CSP) are joining forces in a national effort to bring attention to the threat distracted drivers pose. “We are hoping to go around to colleges and high schools around the state with a distracted driving stimulator to show the harm of it”, said childhood friend of Mitchel Sheldon Wasik.

Reducing smartphone use is especially daunting. “Use of handheld devices has been a motor vehicle violation for some time, but (cellphones) have become such a large part of most people’s lives, they find it hard to put down, even when driving”.

“Dopamine, the pleasure neuro-chemical in the reward system of our brain, is one reason we feel the need to check on our smart phone so often”.

If you’re a passenger, hold the driver’s phone. Troopers said 13,994 crashes statewide previous year – including 26 fatal crashes – involved some type of distraction. 169 of those were fatal crashes.

Testing while driving is against the law in Hawai’i.

Emerging technologies like augmented reality and voice assistants help Harman and other companies create vehicle features that keep driver distraction to a minimum.

According to the National Safety Council, 47 percent of people are comfortable texting while driving. Furthermore, no person under the age of 18 may use a hands-free mobile electronic device while operating a motor vehicle. Exceptions are in place for reporting crashes, crimes or other emergencies.

People in Santa Maria say when they drive, they notice more people distracted by their cell phones instead of paying attention to the roads.