How Can We Make Our Roads Safer? Distracted Driving Extra Enforcement Week Happens April 13-18

Common sense tells you that you need to pay attention when you're driving.  Unfortunately - too often - many people don't and that leads to elevated numbers of automobile crashes and fatalities.  That's why law enforcement is looking to do something about it.

An effort to shine the spotlight on distracted driving will occur April 13-18 with reduction the goal.

Aitkin, Crosby Ironton, McGregor, and Hill City High Schools as well as Hibbing Community College Law Enforcement and Nursing programs partnered with AT&T and the Minnesota Network of Employers for Traffic Safety, which offers the It Can Wait campaign during distracted driving awareness in April. During the week of April 6, students and staff engaged in friendly competition, taking the pledge to never text and drive.

Driver distraction is a leading crash factor in Minnesota, contributing to one in four crashes. Preliminary 2014 statistics show that distraction was a factor in 16,900 crashes in 2014, resulting in 56 deaths and 165 serious injuries, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) Office of Traffic Safety.

As part of this campaign, Northeast Minnesota TZD is also encouraging anyone riding with a distracted driver to speak up and tell them to put the phone down.

The State of Minnesota offers the following tips to minimize driving distractions:

• Hang Up and Drive
• Turn off cell phone, or place it out of reach.
• If on a phone conversation with someone driving, ask them to call you back.
• Texting, emailing and web use while driving is illegal in Minnesota, including when stopped in traffic.
• Drivers under age 18 with an instruction permit or provisional license are prohibited from any cell phone use.

Passengers can also help the situation by doing the following:

• Speak up to stop drivers from engaging in distracted behaviors.
• Assist with phone, directions and radio/music controls.