In conjunction with the national Distracted Driving Awareness Month campaign, the North Ridgeville Police Department urges drivers to prioritize safety and focus on the road while driving, according to a news release.
The Police Department plans to increase enforcement of the new laws concerning distracted driving, the release said.
Also, April 3, marked two years since Ohio’s strengthened distracted driving law went into effect.
Not only does distracted driving put the driver at risk, but also passengers, pedestrians and other drivers on the road, according to the release.
Studies on distracted driving have previously shown that texting while driving increases the risk of getting into a car crash by 23 times, the release said.
“It only takes a split second of distraction to suffer life-altering consequences,” the release said.
Ohio law makes the use of cellphones and other electronic communications devices while driving a primary traffic offense for all drivers and allows law enforcement to immediately pull over a distracted driver upon witnessing a violation.
This includes any type of use of a cellphone, such as texting, browsing the internet, using social media, using GPS or even using the speakerphone.
The penalties include:
• First offense in two years — Two points assessed to driver’s license, up to a $150 fine.
• Second offense in two years — Three points assessed to license, up to a $250 fine.
• Third or more offenses in two years — Four points assessed to license, up to a $500 fine, possible 90-day suspension of driver’s license.
• Fines doubled if the violation occurs in a work zone.
The North Ridgeville Police Department will increase traffic patrol around the city by utilizing awarded grant funds from the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP), according to the release.
The Selective Traffic Enforcement Program program aims to conduct high visibility enforcement to decrease traffic-related fatal and serious injury
crashes.
For more information, visit https://statepatrol.ohio.gov/dashboards-statistics/ostats-dashboards/distracted-driving-dashboard
and https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/phonesdown.
