Modesto police crack down on drivers distracted by cellphones

“Ding!” goes your phone. Then down go your eyes. And on go the lights.

Modesto Police Motor Patrol has been conducting a distracted-driver enforcement effort throughout the month of April, focusing on people using their phones. The operation was part of Distracted Driving Awareness Month and an effort to stop people from talking, texting, Facebooking, Snapchatting and the like while speeding down the road.

On Saturday morning, motorcycle officers were staked out on McHenry Avenue watching traffic and riding off regularly with flashing lights on to pull over drivers with phones in hand.

“What’s amazing about distracted drivers is we’re not hiding what we’re doing sitting here, and still they are on their phones,” said Modesto police Officer Brian Ferguson. “And the reason they don’t see us is because they’re on their phone and distracted.”

While California laws prohibiting handheld cellphone use have been in the books since 2008, Modesto police Sgt. Aaron Tait said the number of distracted drivers he has seen on the road continues to increase. During Distracted Driving Awareness Month, the motor patrol has written more than 300 citations for the violation. Ferguson said the vast majority, 60 percent to 70 percent, are for texting while driving.

The toll of distracted driving is clear. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 431,000 people were injured and 3,179 were killed in crashes involving distracted drivers across the country in 2014. In California that same year, 11,436 were injured and 104 killed for the same reason, according to the the state Office of Traffic Safety.

In Stanislaus County in the past five months, there have been at least two fatal crashes attributed to distracted driving. In December, the California Highway Patrol determined that cellphone use was to blame for a head-on collision that killed 33-year-old Modesto baker Vanessa Zamora, who had placed a call about the time of the crash, and 43-year-old off-duty Stanislaus County sheriff’s Sgt. Jeremy Fielder.

Then on Feb. 1, Modesto police responded to a single-car rollover crash on Yosemite Boulevard that fatally injured a 68-year-old woman and ejected her 3-year-old passenger. Ferguson worked on that crash and said all it takes is a moment for someone to lose control.

“This lady had probably never used her phone before like that. It wasn’t even a smartphone, it was a flip phone,” he said. “But she answered the phone and took her eyes off the road.”

The ubiquity of cellphones in people’s lives has made it harder for folks to resist the temptation while driving. Recent years have seen a sharp rise in the popularity of social media services as well. Tait said he has pulled up on drivers and seen them on Facebook or Instagram.

“It’s habit. We’re constantly on our phones when we’re out. People don’t see the inherent dangers of texting or talking while driving,” he said. “People think they can multitask.”

In fact, half of all drivers say talking on the phone makes no difference in their driving performance, which rises to 60 percent for drivers age 35 and younger, according to a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Yet, while traveling at 55 mph, taking your eyes off the road for even five seconds is enough time to cover the length of a football field.

Still, if the statistics won’t convince drivers, there are always the tickets. In Stanislaus County, a distracted-driving citation costs $171 for the first offense, and doubles all the way up to about $1,000 for repeat offenses.

“A $1,000 ticket to use a cellphone for 5 minutes is not worth it. You could buy any hands-free device in the world for that amount, and then some,” said Ferguson.

The patrol officers said they want people to be aware of what constitutes distracted driving and what is against the law. Holding a device while driving and talking, even on speakerphone, is illegal, as is inputting GPS directions while driving. Checking a phone while stopped at a stoplight or sign is also forbidden.

“If your vehicle is on a roadway and in gear, you cannot use the cellphone with your hands,” Ferguson said.

A grant through the California Office of Traffic Safety has funded the monthlong distracted-driving program in Modesto. Tait and his four full-time motorcycle patrol officers have spent the month trying to educate drivers about the law and subsequent consequences of using their phones on the road.

Among those stopped Saturday morning was 54-year-old Modesto resident Elvira Rosas. She admitted to picking up her phone and looking when she got a message while driving down McHenry Avenue.

“I’m not going to pretend I didn’t. It’s a good thing they caught me, because I know it’s bad and I know I shouldn’t do it,” she said. “It was my fault and I’m sorry about it.”

This story was originally published April 30, 2016 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Modesto police crack down on drivers distracted by cellphones."