Get Off The Phone and Drive! Middletown Police Will Be Looking For and Cracking Down On Distracted Drivers Oct. 25 and Oct. 31

Do you want your cell phone bill to cost a couple hundred dollars more than it does currently? If your answer is an adamant, or confused, “no!?”, then don’t drive while talking on the phone near the Middletown area next week.

Police officers in the Bayshore area of Monmouth County will be paying particular attention to violations of New Jersey’s distracted driving law on October 25 and October 31, Aberdeen Police Chief John Powers reports.

As part of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office “Unplugged and Alive” campaign, the ten departments that make up the Bayshore Task Force- Aberdeen, Atlantic Highlands, Hazlet, Highlands, Holmdel, Keansburg, Keyport, Matawan, Middletown and Union Beach- will be assigning officers to be on the lookout for drivers who are driving distracted, including drivers who are using cellphones.

Violators will be issued written warnings, which give them 15 days to log onto the campaign website at unpluggedandalive.com. On the secure website, drivers will be prompted to give their name, address, driver’s license number, and ticket number, and then watch a video called “The Last Text”, detailing the horrific effects of distracted driving. Those that do not comply within the 15 days will be issued a summons.

On October 1, law enforcement officers across Monmouth County were provided an additional ticket book for the month of October in an effort to bring awareness to distracted driving and the deadly effects it can have on drivers and their families. The Unplugged and Alive Distracted Driving Campaign is a program instituted by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, in cooperation with the Monmouth County Association of Chiefs of Police and supported by the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders. The campaign urges all county residents and people who work in Monmouth County to “Take The Pledge” not to text or talk on a cell phone without a handheld device while driving.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers are four times as likely to get into a serious car crash when using a handheld device while driving. A statement on the Unplugged and Alive campaign website informs readers that more than 9 people are killed and more than 1,150 people are injured in crashes involving distracted drivers daily in the United States.

Put the phone down and nobody gets hurt, because texting and driving kills.

To read more about this campaign, and the efforts Monmouth County law enforcement officers are making to save lives, go to:

http://patch.com/new-jersey/holmdel-hazlet/monmouth-county-wages-unplugged-and-alive-campaign-against-distracted-drivers-watch-last-text-video