Community
Distracted Driving Awareness Month
| Nature of Incident: | Distracted Driving Awareness Month | ||||
| Location: | Ventura County, California | ||||
| Date & Time: | Month of April 2022 | ||||
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| Narrative: | |||||
| The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office will have additional officers on patrol looking for drivers that are violating the state’s hands-free cell phone law. Under the law, drivers are not allowed to hold a phone or electronic communications device while driving. This includes talking, texting or using an app. “Distracted driving is a serious issue, but one that can be easily solved simply by putting the phone down,” Captain Shane Matthews said. “That text, phone call, email or social media post can wait.” A driver cell phone violation is subject to a $157 fine for the first offense. Other distractions include eating, grooming, talking to passengers, using GPS, adjusting the radio, taking off a jacket, reaching for an object on the floor or navigating a vehicle’s in-dash touchscreen. If you have an important phone call or need to program directions, pull over to a safe parking spot. Before driving, either silence your phone or put it somewhere you can’t reach. Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.   |
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| Prepared by: | Daniel Gonzales, Sergeant | ||||
| News Release Date: | March 31, 2022 | ||||
| Media Follow-Up Contact: | Sergeant Daniel Gonzales (805) 388-5132 [email protected] |
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| Approved by: |
Captain Shane Matthews |
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Address/Location
Ventura County Sheriff's Office
800 S Victoria Ave
Ventura, CA 93003
Contact
Emergency: 9-1-1
Non-emergencies: 805-654-9511