Message Sent: Distracted Driving Crackdown Dials Up 164 Tickets in 6 Days

The first week of an initiative to crackdown on distracted driving has proven fruitful, as Washington Township Police have issued 164 tickets with stepped up patrols.

The police department was granted $5,000 from the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety for a three-week initiative to ticket anyone driving distracted, using the additional funds to pay for extra traffic patrols from April 1 to 21.

In just the first six days of the campaign, the department had issued the following summonses:

Cell phone use: 77 tickets
Speeding: 11 tickets
Seatbelt violation: 7 tickets
Suspended license: 4 tickets
Careless driving: 1 ticket
Other: 64 tickets

The total averages out to more than 27 tickets each of the first six days, compared to an average of 16 tickets per day throughout the month of March, when 496 tickets were issued in 31 days.

The initiative, modeled after the national seatbelt violation Click It or Ticket campaign, is designed to stop motorists who engage in “dangerous distracted driving behaviors such as talking on hand-held cell phones and sending text messages while driving,” according to Lt. Doug Compton.

April is now National Distracted Driving Month. Stepped-up patrols will be enforcing the initiative through April 21. 

Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect the comparison of tickets issued between March and the first week of the crackdown.