“It Can Wait” is a slogan and campaign from AT&T to discourage drivers from texting. And if it can’t wait, New York is giving drivers a safe place to text by providing statewide "texting zones" at rest areas and turnouts.
The state is also posting nearly 300 signs along major highways with the phrase “It can wait” and the number of miles before the next texting location to encourage drivers to pull over before picking up their smartphone. Starting with 91 designated zones, the trial program recently announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo is part of the state’s effort to reduce the number of distracted drivers.
The yearlong crackdown by the state on distracted driving also included a lifted undercover SUV so state cops can get a better view into cars to catch drivers using their phones while driving.
As a result of this stepped-up enforcement, New York State Police wrote 21,580 tickets for distracted driving just this summer, up from 5,208 last summer, the New York Daily News reported. Cuomo also signed a law that increase fines for texting while driving to $150 and adds five points to a driver’s license.
Cuomo added that texting is particularly a problem among young people. “They are the generation of the cell phone, of the electronic device . . . that they use constantly,” Cuomo, the father of three teenage girls said. “I see it first-hand.”
At a press conference to kick off the program rest stop near Albany, Cuomo also noted that distracted driving causes one out of every five accidents in New York. “If you wait until you’re in a rest area or service area, you literally may be saving someone’s life and the life you save may be your own,” he said.
[Sources: Autoblog, New York Daily News]
Source: MSN
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