More than $829,000 in fines had been issued for distracted driving in the course of the first eight months of the 12 months, because the state continues to crack down on motorists who can’t put away their telephones.
Colleen Ogilvie, RMV registrar of motor automobiles, mentioned 7,615 of the 38,233 citations issued to drivers who had been speaking or texting and not using a hands-free gadget had been fineable offenses.
In April, 12,213 citations had been issued, excess of some other month this 12 months, a pattern that’s been seen for the reason that hands-free legislation went into impact in February 2020, she mentioned.
“That’s typically a month that law enforcement has funding and does a campaign to get on the road and really focus on distracted driving,” Ogilvie mentioned. “We thank our law enforcement partners for their efforts to try to keep us all safe on the roadway.”
According to state legislation, violators are fined $100 for a primary offense; $250 for a second offense with obligatory completion of a distracted driving schooling program; and $500 for all subsequent offenses, which additionally start to affect the price of their auto insurance coverage.
Police have been extra aggressive with issuing citations annually, in response to MassDOT knowledge shared at Wednesday’s board of administrators assembly and through an RMV replace from February.
The knowledge present that 14,710 extra citations had been issued in 2021 in comparison with 2020, which noticed police cite 44,326 and 29,626 drivers, respectively.
According to AAA, distracted driving is a rising downside amongst motorists and is liable for greater than 3,500 deaths annually.
“Every day, motorists who read or send a text while driving take their eyes off the road for five seconds,” the corporate mentioned on its web site. “At 55 mph, that’s like driving the entire length of a football field with your eyes shut.”
But it’s not simply telephones. Drivers also can turn out to be preoccupied by navigation apps, flipping via songs, consuming and consuming or different passengers of their automobile, AAA notes.
MassDOT secretary and CEO Jamey Tesler instructed the board on a considerably unrelated word that Massachusetts, very similar to what’s been seen throughout the nation, has skilled a major enhance in roadway fatalities and critical crashes over the previous a number of years.
Ways to fight that “unfortunate trend” are being developed as MassDOT works to replace its five-year strategic freeway security plan, he mentioned.
“One of the features of this plan and our approach is to adopt what is referred to as a safety system approach, which aims to eliminate serious injuries and fatalities on our roadways,” Tesler mentioned.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”