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Thanks primarily to the efforts of a 14-member patrol unit, township officers wrote 539 traffic summonses during last month’s annual three-week distracted driving campaign, Capt. Robert Kaiser said.
They also made 13 arrests – including a suspect with a loaded 9mm handgun in the car, others carrying heroin and marijuana and several defendants who skipped court elsewhere, Kaiser said.
With driver inattention contributing to crashes in New Jersey at a rate nine times higher than speed, the annual statewide “UDrive. UText. UPay” spring campaign has continued to grow in importance.
Traffic fatalities in New Jersey rose from 562 in 2015 to 604 in 2016 -- an average of 12 deaths a week, authorities said.
Distracted driving plays an enormous role, they said, adding that teens were the largest age group reported as distracted at the time of fatal crashes.
Among the summonses issued by South Hackensack police in their three-quarters-of-a-square-mile township, many on busy Route 46:
- 25 were for not wearing seatbelts;
- 15 were for illegally using handheld cellphones;
- 10 were for careless driving;
- 35 were drivers who either were on the suspended or revoked list – or had no license at all.
“The rest were for various other traffic infractions,” Kaiser said.
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