This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Police Continue Vigilance During Distracted Driver Awareness Month

Police increased patrols during April to raise awareness, curtail drivers who don't keep their eyes on the road.

As Distracted Driver Awareness Month continues, Glendora Police have released a tally of tickets issued in their efforts to educate and enforce.

Police have issued a total of 263 tickets in Glendora alone since the start of the month, said Corporal Mike Henderson of Glendora Police.

Of that total, 136 tickets were issued for cell phone usage, 53 for text messaging and 34 for tinted windows. The rest included miscellaneous violations attributed to distracted driving, Henderson said.

The Glendora Police Department participated with over 200 other agencies across the state in the campaign. Although the entire month of April was dedicated to education and enforcement, officers especially focused on two days of the month, April 3 and 16.

"Basically, we're just trying to really lead the way for other agencies to show this is an important community issue and any accident we could avoid just by our officers going out there and being proactive is well worth it," Henderson said.

The number of distracted drivers ticketed has mostly remained the same the past few years, but authorities have seen an increase in the number of younger drivers ticketed, Henderson said.

"The numbers seem to remain a lot higher than we want. One accident caused by distracted driving is too much for us," Henderson said.

Glendora Police applied for and was awarded a grant to fund the enforcement campaign. Costs included creating, printing and distributing information on the campaign and overtime for extra officers whose task was to focus primarily on distracted drivers, Henderson said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration initiated Distracted Driver Awareness Month in 2011 in response to the growing concern for drivers.

According to the Office of Traffic Safety, 80 percent of vehicle crashes result from some form of distraction to the driver. As many as 6,000 people are killed annually due to distracted driving. Texting takes your eyes off the road for an average of five seconds; most crashes happen with less than three seconds reaction time.

For more statistics on distracted driving, click here.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?