Campaign drives home new penalties; CDOT seeks stories

   Distracted drivers are involved in an average 40 crashes each day in Colorado, and in 2016, those crashes resulted in 67 fatalities.
    On June 1, Gov. John Hickenlooper signed into law a bill that dramatically increased a first distracted driving offense from a $50 fine and one point on a driver’s record to a $300 fine and four points.
    In order to raise awareness about the harsher penalties and the ongoing threat distracted driving poses, the Colorado Department of Transportation is launching its Drop the Distraction campaign with a high-visibility public awareness campaign.
    “Twenty-two percent of surveyed Coloradans admit to having read a message recently while driving, 64 percent selected entertainment on a mobile device, and 33 percent talked on a hand-held phone. The stats are alarming,” said Darrell Lingk, director of the Office of Transportation Safety at CDOT.
    “The dangers of using your phone while driving are very real. We hope that by recognizing the increased risk, drivers will defer using their hand-held devices while driving thus leading to improved safety on our roadways.”
    Colorado drivers are allowed no more than 12 violation points on their license in a single year, making the increased penalties significant and an important deterrent.

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