NORTH WILDWOOD — Law enforcement officers from the North Wildwood Police Department will be cracking down on distracted drivers as part of the national UDrive. UText. UPay. enforcement campaign. The Division of Highway Traffic Safety has awarded the North Wildwood Police Department overtime enforcement grant funding to be utilized during the Distracted Driving 2017 Statewide Crackdown.
Beginning April 1 and running through April 21, the high visibility law enforcement initiative will target motorists who engage in dangerous distracted driving behaviors such as talking on hand-held cell phones and sending text messages while driving.
Distracted driving kills. The friends, family, and neighbors of the thousands of people killed nationwide each year in distracted driving crashes will tell you it is a very serious safety problem. The nearly half a million people injured each year will agree. Distracted driving is a dangerous epidemic on New Jersey’s roadways, being cited as a major contributing factor in over 817,000 motor vehicle crashes in the state from 2010 to 2014. Nationwide 3,179 people were killed in distracted driving crashes in 2014 alone.
The campaign is being carried out as a part of National Distracted Driving Month and is modeled after similar successful high visibility enforcement campaigns such as Click It or Ticket and Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.
