Put your phone down while driving!
That’s the warning from police who are beefing up patrols looking for distracted drivers across the state.
Police departments across the state are participating in the “U DRIVE. U TEXT. U PAY.” campaign.
People caught with a phone in their hand while behind the wheel can face a stiff fine. The effort is already seeing results.
Officer Kwanza Clayton patrols East Hartford streets and he says one of the biggest dangers is other drivers.
“I have seen a lot of accidents, fatal also that came from people actually on their phones and texting,” Clayton said.
His department joined about 50 others in the state in the campaign.
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Starting last Wednesday and lasting for two weeks, extra patrols will look for distracted drivers.
And pretty quickly Clayton, who is working with a partner, pulled someone over.
“We had a spotter down there that actually saw you,” Clayton said.
One man claimed he was not on his phone. Soon after another driver who was pulled over tried to explain that officers mistook his wrist guard for a phone.
But Clayton was confident of what his spotter saw.
Both drivers received tickets though were reminded they can fight them later.
“We get that a lot. We understand. And people will try anything to get themselves out of a ticket,” Clayton said.
Tickets start at $150 for drivers caught talking, texting or otherwise using their hand-held cell phone.
Officers hope the potential cost and danger encourages people to do the right thing.
“Pull over to a safe spot and answer the text, answer their phone call. So that way that one second that it takes, you know to do that, it could save yourself, save other people that are around you,” Clayton said.
This was a two-part campaign. During the first stretch back in April officers handed out nearly 12,000 citations. This part wraps up on August 16.
