New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday state police and local law enforcement are stepping up patrols and checkpoints throughout the state from April 10-15 as part of "Operation Hang Up," which encourages drivers to focus on the road instead of using mobile devices.
"The message is clear: distracted driving is deadly and it will simply not be tolerated on New York roads," Cuomo said in a press release, adding that "with stricter laws and crack downs like this one we are working to make New York a safer state for all our divers."
Cuomo urged "all New Yorkers to hang up, keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the wheel so that on one has to unnecessarily suffer the pain of losing a loved one at the hands of a text," he said.
The effort combines periods of intense enforcement of anti- texting and hand held cell phone laws coupled with advertising and media outreach to let people know about the enforcement and convince them to obey the law.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has said that in 2012, 3,328 people across the country were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver and an estimated 421,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver. Additionally, 10 percent of fatal crashes were reported as distraction-affected crashes.
The state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is also implementing tougher penalties for distracted driving for all drivers. The DMV has increased the number of points earned against an individual's driving record upon conviction for texting-while- driving and cell-phone related infractions from three points to five points.
Troopers will be using both marked State Police vehicles and Concealed Identity Traffic Enforcement (CITE) vehicles as part of the operation in order to more easily identify motorists who are using handheld devices while driving.
During the last "Operation Hang Up" campaign from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1, 2013, New York State Police issued more than 875 tickets. More than 625 tickets were issued for talking on a cell phone without a hands free device while driving, while the rest 250 of the tickets were for texting or using an electronic device while driving.
