April 7, 2021
The Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning is launching a distracted driving awareness campaign for National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. It says the target will be those who text while driving. According to the Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Information Center, in 2019 there were 18,096 distracted driving crashes in Michigan, resulting in 70 fatalities. Nationwide in 2019, the number of fatalities linked to driver distraction was 3,142, or nearly 9% of all fatalities that year. As such, the “U Drive, U Text, U Pay” enforcement effort will run from April 8 to April 12 with police agencies around Michigan having a visible presence on the road to catch drivers messing with their phones. Everyone is reminded to keep their attention on the road when behind the wheel.
Glance at phone messages while behind the wheel of a moving vehicle? Even worse, try to respond?
That’s not just illegal in Michigan it could prove to be deadly.
Law enforcement agencies in the state and across the country will try to make the dangers of such behavior clear this week in support of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month in April.
This annual campaign is part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s “U Drive. U Text. U Pay.” high-visibility enforcement effort that runs from today through Monday.
According to the Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Information Center, the state in 2019 had 18,096 distracted driving crashes, resulting in 70 fatalities. Nationwide in 2019, the number of fatalities linked to driver distraction was 3,142, or nearly 9% of all fatalities that year. This included 566 non-occupants pedestrians, bicyclists and others killed in crashes involving a distracted driver.
Police To Hold Distracted Driving Awareness Campaign wirx.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wirx.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Local law enforcement participates in Distracted Driving Awareness Month
Storyblocks
and last updated 2021-04-07 09:53:37-04
MICHIGAN â Law enforcement agencies across the country â including in Michigan â are joining forces this month in support of Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
The goal of the annual campaign is to promote enforcement and awareness of state and local texting and distracted-driving laws, a news release said Wednesday.
Itâs also part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationâs âU Drive. U Text. U Pay.â effort.
Michigan State Policeâs Criminal Justice Information Center says there were more than 18,000 crashes causes by distracted driving in the state in 2019.