Distracted Driving Crackdown: See Which Morris Police Departments Got State Grant Money

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — Police across the Garden State have begun their annual crackdown on distracted driving, and officials said seven Morris County departments will get grant money to increase patrols.

The “U Drive. U Text. U Pay.”campaign runs between April 1 and April 30, and police will be on the lookout for drivers who are texting or otherwise distracted behind the wheel. In 2022, officials said almost 50 percent of drivers involved in crashes in the state were engaged in some kind of "distracted behavior." These crashes resulted in 180 deaths and more than 1,500 serious injuries, data shows.

The New Jersey Attorney General's Office and Division of Highway Traffic Safety is issuing $1.2 million in grants to local police departments across the state, to help them combat distracted drivers.

The money will help pay for saturation patrols during the month-long campaign as police target drivers who are on their phones or otherwise distracted.

The agencies in Morris County receiving grants are:

• Butler: $7,000
• Dover: $7,000
• Hanover: $7,000
• Jefferson: $7,000
• Mount Olive: $8,750
• Parsippany-Troy Hills: $7,000
• Randolph: $8,750

In 2023, the distracted driving campaign yielded 7,130 citations for cell phone use or texting and about 4,000 for careless driving, officials said. Using a handheld electronic device while driving in New Jersey could result in fines ranging from $200 to $400 for a first offense and up to $800 for subsequent violations, along with the addition of three insurance points.