Distracted driving one year into tougher restrictions
Jul 17, 2018, 6:05 AM | Updated: Jul 19, 2018, 8:18 am
Washington state's distracted driving law has been in effect for a year, but you might not notice a difference. (AP File Photo)
(AP File Photo)
It has been just about a year since the new distracted driving law went into effect, and if what we see on the roads is any indication there seems to be the same amount of people on their phones as before.
RELATED: A refresher on Washington’s distracted driving law
The new law went into effect on July 23, 2017. Many law enforcement agencies started ticketing drivers immediately. Others, such as the State Patrol, decided to educate drivers for about six months before really dropping the hammer on violators.
I asked Trooper Rick Johnson if he feels that the number of drivers using their phones has dropped over the first year. Anecdotally, he said he thinks so, but it’s really hard to tell. He knows troopers could spend all their time writing tickets for distracted driving.
“If you had a trooper whose only job was to find this violation, I’m sure they would stay pretty busy,” Trooper Johnson said.
Between July 23 and June 15, troopers stopped 18,503 drivers for violating the portion of the distracted driving law that relates to electronics — talking on the phone, texting, or surfing the web. They contacted 1,567 additional drivers for other reasons, such as eating or yelling at the kids. Not all of the drivers were ticketed.
Trooper Johnson said he sees more drivers trying to be responsible.
“I do see more phones mounted, whether you put it in your vent or something like that,” he said.
Trooper Johnson said that some of those mounted phones are in weird places, like right in the driver’s field of vision.
The biggest takeaway he sees after a year with these tougher restrictions is that there are many ways to be distracted. It’s not all about the phone.
“You have these cars with these screens that tell you all sorts of different things, and then you have the talk to text, which is great but you’re going to want to edit it,” he said.
Crashes down in District 8
Since the new law went into effect, troopers have seen fewer crashes linked to distracted driving in areas west of Puget Sound.
According to data from the Washington State Patrol, the number of crashes between July through June decreased from 75 in 2016-17 to 56 in 2017-18. Grays Harbor County was the only county that saw an increase in crashes, from seven to 10.
District 8 also includes, Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, Mason, and Pacific and Wahkiakum counties.
