In an effort to discourage texting while driving, police will be cracking down on motorists in Syracuse for the next two weeks.

The Syracuse Police Department, Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, New York State Police and Syracuse University Department of Public Safety will be watching motorists from Thursday until Oct. 16. Handheld cell phone use and texting while driving is banned for all drivers in New York state.

The pilot project, ‘Phone In One Hand, Ticket in Another,’ is federally funded. Its mission is to raise awareness of the fact that using a cell phone while driving is dangerous, especially if the driver is texting, said Ken Baker from the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

‘One out of five crashes in New York state involves a distracted driver as a contributing factor to a crash,’ Baker said. ‘We see that nationwide about 5,500 people died in 2009 in crashes involving a distracted driver and more than 440,000 were injured.’

The upcoming crackdown is the second in the campaign; the first was from July 22 to July 31. During the July crackdown, joint area police forces issued 184 citations for using a cell phone while driving, six for texting specifically and 160 for other driving violations, according to a state police press release.

Texting while driving delays a person’s reaction as much as having a blood alcohol content of .08 percent, the equivalent to being drunk, Baker said.

Syracuse is one of two cities in the nation involved in the pilot project. Syracuse and a Hartford, Conn., program will hopefully gain national recognition and become models on how to better educate the public on potentially dangerous driving behaviors, Baker said.

‘We want to use the pilot project in such a way that it will become a national standard, to be the equivalent of campaigns such as ‘Click it or Ticket’ or ‘Over the Limit, Under Arrest,” he said.

Sgt. Gary Bulinski of SPD said the purpose of the Syracuse project is to look out for the safety of motorists and for the safety of the surrounding motorists and pedestrians.

Police will be on the lookout for drivers and will be giving out tickets. Like many other driving violations, points will be put on their license. Texting while driving has a penalty of two points. 

‘Usually you’ll see a distracted driver with their eyes looking down and the device in their hand, at which point police will then take action,’ Bulinski said.

In January 2010, the National Safety Council reported drivers using cell phones to talk or text were the cause of 28 percent of all traffic crashes. Texting causes a minimum of 3 percent of the total crashes.

‘If you’re taking your mind off the objective, which is getting from point A to point B safely, either by having a cell phone conversation or texting, it increases the risk of a crash and injury.’ Bulinski said.

Starlet Wheatley, a senior hospitality major, has a car on campus and said she would be more careful with her phone use over the next two weeks. She said she understands how an accident could happen if a driver is distracted.

‘I’ve never been in an accident from being on the phone, but it does take your attention away from accidents that can be avoided,’ Wheatley said. ‘Every time I look down, I just hear my mom’s voice saying, ‘Stay a car distance away from the car in front of you.” 

ddherrin@syr.edu

Published on October 5, 2010 at 12:00 pm