DES MOINES – The Iowa State Patrol has issued 6 times more citations for texting while driving in the past year, after a new law allows law enforcement officers to stop drivers who are texting. This past year, Troopers issued 1,131 citations for texting while driving. That is up from 182 citations the year before.
John Gaspar, a research scientist with the National Advanced Driving Simulator, found that it takes two seconds to impair a driver’s safety. It usually takes 5 seconds to send or read a text. At 55mph, that is the same as driving the length of a football field with your eyes closed.
The Center for Disease Control says that every day an average of 9 people are killed and more than 1,000 people are injured because of a distracted driver. Teens are affected most by texting while driving.
Troopers in the Iowa State Patrol have developed innovative methods for finding drivers who are texting. They take these violations seriously because it puts the texting driver at risk, along with everyone else on the road who may be affected by the distracted driver.
“Put down your phone and focus on your driving,” urges Sergeant Nathan Ludwig of the Iowa State Patrol. “Every day and every night, Troopers are on the lookout for drivers who are texting when they should be focused on their driving.”
A new texting-while-driving law that took effect one year ago made texting while driving a “primary” offense. That means an officer can stop a driver and issue a citation for texting while driving. Before last July, it was a “secondary” offense, meaning that officers could only issue a citation for texting while driving if the officer stopped the driver for some other offense.
July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017: 182 citations issued by Iowa State Patrol
July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018: 1,131 citations issued by Iowa State Patrol
I followed a lady in a black ford truck to clear lake on 106. 8 times she was over the center line and 6 times on the shoulder. we went from 20mph to 60mph several times. she got lucky the highway wasn’t busy and she must have gotten her text made. I laid on the horn and she didn’t even look up in her mirror to see what I was honking about. bad thing is I could see a child 2-3 yrs old playing around in the back seat, not in a car seat or buckled in. Accident waiting to happen!!!
This is great! Maybe some day in the future I’ll be able to drive on a two-lane road without fearing for my life. Could we now start teaching people what signal lights are for?
It’s about time. But, they missed a lot of them.