Pennsylvania State Police are joining five other states for a project to raise awareness of careless and reckless driving associated with cell phone use.
The Six State Trooper project will have state police forces from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky for the effort. The awareness project gets underway next Monday and will run for the week. The effort will focus on reckless and careless driving, texting while driving, handheld mobile devices, prohibiting text-based communication and image display devices.
Sending or receiving text messages takes a driver’s eyes off the road for about five seconds, and police say that is the equivalent of driving the length of a football field with your eyes closed. The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration said in 2020, 3,142 people were killed in motor vehicle accidents where they were distracted. And if you don’t crash, police can issue a fine from $100 to $500 for the offense.
Police advise people that if they can’t wait to send a text, pull over to a safe location before you type it out. If you have friends, police also say that drivers should consider naming a passenger as the “designated texter” to keep everyone safe.
