Delaware’s Office of Highway Safety (OHS) wants motorists to stop activities that distract them when they’re behind the wheel.
April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month and the Highway Safety Office is piggybacking on that to launch its new Be Alert and Arrive Alive campaign.
“It’s bringing awareness to distracted driving amongst Delaware drivers and pedestrians," said Office of Highway Safety spokeswoman Cindy Cavett. "Distracted driving resulted in 3,142 fatalities nationwide in 2019, which was a 10% increase from 2018. And this is indicating that distracted driving is a growing traffic safety problem, It’s just as dangerous - if not more dangerous - than drinking and driving.”
Cavett says this campaign aims to reach all drivers, but specifically targets males between 16 to 24 who make up a significant number of distracted driving offenders.
Cavett says distracted driving is a mounting problem.
“With the introduction of cell phones and mobile devices being introduced into our lives, in addition to other distractions from satellite radio to TV’s and DVD's within cars and people being distracted in general, the trend is definitely growing,” Cavett said.
She notes that in 2020, 37-percent of Delaware drivers involved in distracted driving crashes were between 20-29 years old and 63% of those were males.
Cavett says Highway Safety and Delaware State Police are running a special enforcement period through Thursday, April 22, 2021 at key locations throughout the state, including Route 1 in the Lewes/Rehoboth area, Route 24 around Laurel, Route 40 in the Bear area and Route 4 near Newark/Christiana.
Another special enforcement period is slated from July 15 through August 19.
