- November 18, 2024
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Put down those cell phone, drivers! The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office will take part in the National Safety Councils 2014 National Distracted Driving Awareness Campaign starting April 10-15.
“Our deputies will be patrolling the county watching for distracted drivers,” Sheriff James L. Manfre said in a Sheriff’s Office news release. “The goal is to make our roadways safer and ultimately save lives.”
Deputies will use high-visibility patrols to find drivers who are texting or otherwise not watching the road.
A Florida law enacted last October made texting while driving a secondary traffic offense, which means a law enforcement officer would have to see a driver commit a primary offense to stop them. But the officer could then issue two citations: one for the primary offense, and one for texting.
The law doesn’t prohibit texting in a vehicle that is stopped, and does not address talking on a phone or using a GPS while driving, according to the news release.
But driving distracted by anything can be deadly.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that each year, 10,000 people are killed and another 500,000 injured because of distracted driving, according to the news release.
