Point Beach Police Ready For Distracted Driving Crackdown

Point Pleasant NJ

24 March, 2022

5:34 AM

Description

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, NJ — Point Pleasant Beach police will have extra patrols in place through the month of April to crack down on distracted driving. Police Chief Robert Kowalewski said the crackdown will be high visibility and focused on people who are talking on cell phones or sending text messages while driving. In 2019 there were 3,142 people killed and more than 400,000 people injured in crashes nationally that resulted from distracted driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds. At 55 mph, it's like driving the length of a football field with your eyes closed, the police department said. Distracted driving includes talking or texting on your phone, eating and drinking, fiddling with the radio, entertainment or navigation system, talking to your passengers — "anything that takes your attention away from safe driving," police said. "Driver inattention has remained the most frequently cited cause of fatal and incapacitating crashes in NJ, over seven times higher than the total crashes cited for unsafe speed over the five-year period 2015-2019," police said. "Driver inattention was a contributing circumstance in nearly 49 percent of NJ crashes in 2019." Sign up for Patch alerts and daily newsletters here, or download our app to have breaking news alerts sent right to your phone. Have a news tip? Email [email protected] Follow Point Pleasant Patch on Facebook.