Since announcing a regional crackdown on phoning while driving that started Thursday, Danbury has handed out more than 100 tickets.
Each ticket is $125, and police said it isn't like the old days when people could plead for leniency or buy a hands-free device to get out of paying the fine.
Danbury joined other Western Connecticut towns in a federal grant to pay for stricter enforcement against driving while texting or talking with a phone in your hand. In addition to local police, the state police, state Department of Motor Vehicles, state Department of Transportation and the State's Attorney's Office are all involved in the crackdown effort. The campaign slogan is, "Phone in One Hand, Ticket in the Other."
"It helps make the neighborhoods safer," said Sgt. Rory DeRocco, who heads the Danbury Police Department's motor vehicle accident review team and the traffic division. "Most people are comfortable talking on a phone in one hand while driving. We're well up over 100 tickets."
That number grows by the hour. At 10:30 a.m. Monday, Danbury Motorcycle Patrol Officer Richard DeJesus was on patrol at entrance 6 to eastbound I-84 with the Connecticut State Police when he saw a white van drive by on North Street with the driver on the phone. When he pulled over the van, he discovered the driver had a suspended license. He spend the next 20 minutes waiting for the tow truck to arrive and remove the van.
By 11 a.m., three State Police cruisers were stopped on the entrance 6 on ramp with two tow trucks and three stopped cars.
The crackdown against texting or talking without a hands-free device will continue through Wednesday.
Danbury is using a variety of techniques to find people talking on phones without using hands-free devices. They are using the motorcycle patrol, regular patrol cars and unmarked cars working via radio with marked cars.
When an officer in an unmarked car sees someone talking on the phone with a hands free device, the officer calls for a cruiser, and passes along the key information so the cruiser can make the stop.
"They'll radio ahead a description, the details, what hand they're using," DeRocco said.
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