Many states have benefited from imposing tighter restrictions on distracted driving lately, but it seems that California is not one of them. According to a new study, distracted drivers on California’s roads are a more common site this year compared to 2014.
California’s Office of Traffic Safety recently commissioned a study that was conducted by UC Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center, which found that 10 percent of all drivers in California are using their cell phones, a 39-percent increase from last year. State authorities said that this is shocking news, acknowledging that distracted driving is a serious public safety issues in California.
“Discouraging drivers from operating a vehicle while distracted is a challenge that law enforcement is faced with year-round,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow.
To find out how common the use of cell phones by California drivers is, researchers observed drivers during daytime while standing at stoplights, highway on-ramps and stop signs. They found that this year, 9.2 percent of all drivers were using a cell phone to talk or send text messages, up from 6.6 percent in 2014.
State officials say that the factors behind the increase in distracted driving include poor law enforcement and low penalties. California’s Distracted Driving Laws ban all drivers from text messaging, in addition to prohibiting novice and adult drivers from using hand-held phones, while allowing those aged 18 and above to use a hands-free device.
At the moment, the penalties for distracted driving in California include a fine of at least $161, including court costs, with repeat offenders facing steeper fines. Unlike many other states, distracted driving convictions don’t carry demerit points, which makes the state’s law on distracted driving pretty lenient. Traffic safety advocates argue that distracted driving penalties must be more severe.
Joe Simitian, a Santa Clara County supervisor, has proposed a $20 increase to the minimum fine for distracted driving convictions, but his initiatives were rejected by Governor Jerry Brown.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that about 3,000 people were killed in distraction-related accidents last year, with 80 percent of all motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver.
The California Office of Traffic Safety advises drivers to avoid distractions and obey the law. Drivers are advised to avoid eating and drinking, composing or reading text messages, talking on the phone, as well as adjusting their in-car stereos or programming their GPS while their vehicle is in motion.