By Julia Barcello
Greenwich Police Department decided to increase their traffic enforcement on distracted driving last month. Over the last year, there were over 5,400 crashes due to distracted driving in Connecticut. New offenses for having a phone in hand while driving include $200 for the first offense, $375 for the second offense, and $650 for the third and subsequent offenses. These violations have increased between $50 and $150.
“Drivers need to focus on the road and not their phones or devices,” expressed the Greenwich Police Department in a Facebook post. Given that a large part of Greenwich’s appeal is its safety, distracted driving degrades the Town. “It gives a lot more incentive to living in Greenwich. It helps everyone feel better about both the safety of themselves and their children,” stated Greenwich resident, Jack Ryan (18) who has been driving for just over a year.
Reagan Strassel (18), a Greenwich resident who has been driving for a year, expressed her concern about distracted driving through Greenwich, “Too many times, especially on Orchard Street, I’ve seen drivers run stop signs and go through crosswalks nearly hitting kids on their way home from school.”
In a one-on-one interview, Sergeant James Smith of the Greenwich Police Department [GPD] who is in charge of the traffic division discussed the concentrated effort in mitigating distracted driving during October, “Of course, we’re always enforcing violations… It’s just more of [a] concentrated effort for [those] weeks.” He explained that GPD is utilizing social media to publish press releases to deliver information on distracted driving directly to the public. In these social media press releases users may find collision data, and updates about the enforcement.
The concentration is in conjunction with the Connecticut State Highway Safety Office. The CT Safety Office will be aiding the GPD in increasing traffic enforcement by providing grants allowing GPD to place more officers on the roads. “It’s part of a statewide crackdown on distracted driving” stated Sgt. Smith.
Most distracted driving incidents in Greenwich occur on East and West Putnam Road, the business district, and the western side of town alongside Byram. It is common to witness accidents during the workday roughly between 7AM and 4PM.
Stg. Smith reminded residents that the police department welcomes phone calls from Greenwich residents informing GPD of anything they notice. “Let the officers know, check it out there, check out that area,” noted Stg Smith.
Sgt. Smith elaborated on the rigorous concentration last month, “it’s just kind of more of a zero tolerance kind of thing where you know if you are seen doing some distracted driving behavior, you should be expecting to get a ticket.” It is vital to remember that distracted driving ranges from anything such as eating to being on a cell phone.
GPD is also addressing the issue of distracted driving through Greenwich High School, where they have school officers educating students on what proper driving behavior is. Sgt. Smith reminds young drivers, “If you take your eyes off the road for a minute or not, even just a couple of seconds, makes a difference of whether you can get involved in a collision… if it is absolutely urgent, pull over… then get back on the road.” GPD urges parents to “Remind your 16 and 17-year-old drivers they are prohibited from using a… mobile device… even with a hands-free accessory,” in a recent Facebook post.
Many young drivers understand the danger of distracted driving, Jack Ryan stated, “It’s a very scary scene to see someone drifting from lane to lane with no knowledge of what they’re doing.”
Greenwich resident Ashley LoBalbo (19) recalls, “I’ll never forget driving home from GHS [Greenwich High School] and seeing people slam on their breaks inches behind the car in front of them because they were on their phone, it’s scary, especially when there are so many people walking nearby.”
