As Distracted Driving Incidents are Increasing, So are Accidents

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By Rob Jepson for the Utah Statesman, Friday, Dec. 10

The USU Health and Wellness Center is displaying an expo this week on the danger of driving. The expo, part of Distracted, Drunk, Drugged, & Drowsy Driving Awareness Week, presents information about victims of drunk driving accidents, Utah laws on drunk driving and how to avoid potential car accidents.

Ryan Barfuss, the prevention specialist for the center, said the center tries to do an event each month to raise awareness of health-related issues. He said each December they do an event centered on driving issues.

“We mainly wanted to give out information one more time before students leave to go home.  And the message we have there on the display board of, you know, just being aware as they’re driving – to not be sleepy, to pull over, to definitely not be drinking and driving or on drugs, including medication and prescription drugs,” he said.

This year, Barfuss decided to add “Distracted” to the list of dangerous driving circumstances.

“We put in distracted driving this year because of texting and cell phones and stuff like that, just to be very conscience about them going home for the holidays.  We definitely want them back for the new school year,” he said.

Capt. Steve Milne of the University Police said, “Distracted driving is a big issue right now, particularly with the electronic devices that are in cars now and the cell phones and stuff.”

Lt. Rodney Peterson of the Logan City Police Deptartment said, “Taking your eyes off the road while driving is just a deadly thing to do.”

Peterson said there were 582 accidents on Logan’s main street in the past year. He said 400 of those were caused by inattentive driving.

“That doesn’t mean they were necessarily texting,” he said. “But it means that they, for whatever reason, took their eyes off the road ahead of them and focused their attention on the radio, looking for a CD, looking for a lighter, their smokes, whatever and ran into the car ahead of them.”

He said Logan is ranked fourth in Utah for number of accidents.

“Main Street in Logan has earned a reputation as one of the most likely places in the state for an accident per vehicle miles. Failure to maintain proper lookout is the primary cause of accidents on Logan’s Main Street,” he said.

Peterson said because of the high rate of distraction-related accidents, he will be putting officers on Main Street specifically to identify drivers who are distracted. The move is part of what he calls the “STOP the Main Distraction” campaign. The campaign includes issuing more citations, monitoring Main Street more closely, and giving presentations on the danger of driving while distracted.

“Utah legislature has written a law prohibiting drivers from using a mobile device of any kind,” he said.  He said drivers who commit any type of driving violation while using an electronic device will be cited with careless driving and will be fined $310 with a mandatory court appearance. 

Drivers who commit three or more driving violations while using an electronic device will be cited with reckless driving and be fined $623 with a mandatory court appearance.

“If a policeman sees you texting while driving, you’re going to get a $310 ticket and a mandatory court appearance,” Peterson said. “Right now we’re not really aggressively putting officers on main street looking for these distracted drivers because, you know, it is the holiday season and I don’t like writing tickets more than anybody else does, especially this time of year. But come January we’re going to get officers up on Main Street and they will be paid to only identify people who are driving while they are distracted and then be issuing them citations.”

Peterson said 21 people have been issued a citation in the last five months, and many more have been let off with warnings.  

Milne said, “As far as our accidents, ours are all, thank goodness, minor fender-benders than happen in the parking lot and it doesn't have anything to do with distracted driving.”