Carson City Sheriff’s Office to focus on distracted drivers Thursday

From 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, the Carson City Sheriff’s Office will deploy deputies throughout Carson City in an attempt to locate distracted drivers, mainly drivers talking or texting on cell phones. The funding for this operation is provided by the Joining Forces Grant.

The Carson City Sheriff’s Office will be working diligently during this time frame in an attempt to locate and educate drivers on distracted driving. The education will include warnings and/or traffic citations. The Sheriff’s Office urges drivers to not text and drive and put the phone down. If the use of a cell phone is absolutely necessary, please pull to the side of the road in a safe place to make the call or text, not while you’re driving.

In the state of Nevada, you may NOT talk on a phone, by holding it to your ear, or read or send text messages, emails, or other forms of electronic communication, while you’re behind the wheel operating a motor vehicle. The only exception to this is if you’re using a Bluetooth device. The fine for a first offense is $50. In addition there’s a State fee of $45, Court fee of $13, and an Offense fee of $7 for a total fine of $115.

In October the Carson City Sheriff’s Office wrote 36 cell phone related traffic citations. So far in November the Sheriff’s Office wrote 11 traffic citations for cell phone violations.

For resources about distracted driving, visit: http://www.distraction.gov/stats-research-laws/facts-and-statistics.html

For more information on Joining Forces and other statewide traffic safety programs, visit http://www.zerofatalitiesnv.com. Follow Zero Fatalities Nevada on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and @ZeroFatalitiesNV.