Distracted Driving
It’s time for another #TrafficTipTuesday, and Sgt. Eaton has some statistics that may surprise you!
“Hello everyone and welcome to another exciting edition of #TrafficTipTuesday. It has been a busy week here in the HCSO Traffic Unit. We’ve been investigating some serious injury crashes, updating some of our crash investigation gear and, whether we like it or not, getting ready for the start of some rapidly approaching Autumn weather. With all that has been going on, I thought this would be a good week to get back to one of the basics of safe driving. Let’s get to it!
A new study showed that Harford County Roads saw 2847 traffic crashes in 2020. While most of these crashes only involved damaged property, nearly 800 of them resulted in personal injury. Can anyone guess what was one of the leading causes of crashes? Anyone….Anyone? If you said DISTRACTED DRIVING, you are correct.
The Maryland Highway Safety Office estimates that, state-wide, 45% of all crashes were caused by a distracted driver. On top of that, 20% of all distracted driving crashes resulted in an injury. This means that each year approximately 27,000 Marylanders are injured or killed by a distracted driver.
So what does the law say?”
Traffic Article 21 1124.2 d2 tell us that a driver may not use hands to use handheld telephone while motor vehicle is in motion.
The fines are as follows:
1st offense: $ 83.00
2nd offense: $ 140.00
3rd offense: $ 160.00
This means, you may NOT use a handheld phone while driving a vehicle for ANY reason. No calls, no texts, no Angry Birds, NOTHING. If you are operating a vehicle, your phone needs to be down. This includes waiting at a stop light. If you are in control of your vehicle, you should not be in control of your phone. If you need to use GPS, get it set before you put your car in drive.
If you do need to use your phone while driving, remember. Although hands free communication is legal, it can also be very distracting. Make sure you are going out of your way to pay attention to driving safely
At this point, pretty much everyone has a cell phone. And along with the phone comes the responsibility of not using it to endanger others. No phone conversation or Instagram scroll is worth someone’s life. So, if your car is in drive, your phone should be parked!
As always, if you have a question or concern, please leave it in the comments below. Also, if you have a specific concern with unsafe driving in your area, such as speeding, drag racing, etc., give us a call, send an email, or reach out on social media. Until next week, slow down, pay attention, wear your seatbelt, and drive safely
HCSO Main Line – 410.838.6600
Northern Precinct – 410.692.7880
Southern Precinct – 410.612.1717
HCSO Traffic Unit – 443.409.3324
traffictiptuesday@harfordsheriff.org
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