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Throughout the month, the Stamford Police Department is partnering with the Connecticut Department of Transportation for the National Highway Safety Administration's distracted driving campaign, U Drive. U Text. U Pay. Police are out in full force this month to enforce distracted driving laws.
The enforcement began on Tuesday, when police issued 80 tickets are two separate checkpoints. Of these tickets, 32 were for texting while driving, 30 were for using a cell phone, eight were for traffic control signal violations, three were for distracted driving such as applying make-up or eating, three were for failure to wear a seatbelt, two were for unregistered motor vehicles, one was for driving without a license and one was for illegal tinted windows. These were only due to the efforts of officers assigned to the distracted driving detail, not to officers on regular patrol.
Police said that traffic safety is a huge concern for the city of Stamford. In the first quarter of 2017, Stamford recorded 1,056 collisions. Two of these crashes resulted in three fatalities, while 163 involved injuries and 891 were property damage only. A total of 186 of drivers in these collisions were determined to be distracted at the time of the crash, police said.
Police are asking residents to pay attention to the road and are aiming for voluntary compliance, but special enforcement details will be continuing throughout the month.
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