The Danbury City Council approved allocating some funding for a distracted driving law enforcement effort. Danbury Police are participating in the state wide visibility program and are receiving a grant to pay for part of the effort. Police are looking to crackdown on drivers using a cell phone while behind the wheel. The $49,000 grant from the state will pay for about 75-percent of the cost, with the City allocating $16,000 for the effort. The money will pay for four officers per day this month and in August to be on dedicate patrols looking for distracted drivers.
The Monroe Police Department and the Connecticut Highway Safety Office are teaming up to kick off the National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. In 2014, an estimated 3,000 people were killed and 431,000 injured in accidents involving distracted drivers. Monroe police say their goal is to get people to put down their phones and pay attention to the road in an effort to prevent needless crashes.
Fines for using a mobile phone while behind the wheel will cost $150 for the first offense, a second $300, and a third and subsequent offense $500.
The Ridgefield Police Department is also participating in the “U DRIVE. U TEXT. U PAY.” campaign. During the month of April the Ridgefield Police Department will have extra patrols on certain days specifically looking for cell phone and texting violations.
The Ridgefield Police Department, through the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s Highway Safety Office, received funds to pay for this enforcement initiative.
