Every year, distracted driving kills over 3,000 people and injures almost 400,000. In an attempt to combat this epidemic, the Oswego State University Police has administered over 100 tickets for the use of electronic devices yearly since 2014.
“Distracted driving is bad. Texting is worse,” said Assistant University Police Chief Kevin Velzy.
There are three types of distraction while driving, Velzy said: manual, cognitive and visual. Texting and driving use all three of these distractions, making it incredibly dangerous.
According to University Police, the number of tickets issued for usage of a mobile phone or electronic devices while driving has increased tremendously from five tickets in 2008 to over 100 in 2017 with still three months remaining in the calendar year.
Velzy correlates this increase with the distinct increase of cellphone and especially smartphone usage. Approximately 80 percent of the entire U.S. population owns a smartphone, according to the data from the U.S. Census and the Council of Interstate Testing Agencies.
What is even more startling is how we as a society have lost the ability to put down our mobile devices, Velzy said.
“It’s becoming an addictive behavior where people hear that ‘ding’ on their phone and they can’t ignore it,” Velzy said.
Cellphone usage is becoming so common in the driver’s seat that some laws have been changed to give enforcers access to cellphones post-crash.
“Sometimes it’s hard to prove, for instance, if you had a fatal accident,” Velzy said. “Now they’re changing the laws where law enforcement can actually go in and look at phone data, forensics and say ‘yeah the person was on their phone when the accident happened and that’s what caused the accident.”
Even with the changing of laws and hefty ticket consequences, students are not refraining from distracted driving. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation last year increasing the cell phone and distracted driving violation to five license points and up to $150.
“From the studies I’ve seen, tickets aren’t working,” Velzy said.
The cell phone epidemic, as he stated, is one that needs to change. People are addicted to their phones while driving, and it just is not worth endangering other lives.
“I’m pretty against texting and driving, but if someone texts me, I’ll glance and see who it is,” Brianna Smith, a junior marketing major said.
A statistic from Lookout reports that 58 percent of smartphone users do not go one hour without checking their phones, and 68 percent of this number comes from the 18-to 34-year-old demographic. A poll from TIME Mobility reported that 84 percent of people could not go a single day without their phones.
The struggle between looking down at a phone and eyes on the road continues to be a major issue, Velzy said. He fears that the struggle could take as long as the enforcement of seatbelts in the state, which after 33 years is only 91 percent followed.
Velzy also stated that the biggest battle is to educate people of the dangers and encourage all students to visit the University Police Facebook page where information and informative videos are shared.
Photo: Taylor Woods | The Oswegonian
