Union County Sheriff Jamie Patton said traffic crashes are “really exploding” and he says he knows why.
Patton said his officers have seen a surge in distracted driving.
Patton said that through March 14, 2017, his office had handled 88 crashes. For the same time period in 2018, he said the number was 137 crashes.
“Obviously, this time of year some of them are due to weather but we have not had severe weather conditions that we have seen in Ohio in the past,” Patton said.
The sheriff said the problem is not outside the car, but inside.
“Most of it is distracted driving, inability for drivers to pay attention,” Patton said.
The sheriff said it is difficult to know for sure if a driver involved in a crash was distracted. He said it takes a search warrant to investigate whether a driver was using their cellphone at the time of a crash.
“It is just a lot of work, but when there is a fatality or a serious property crash, dollar value, then obviously search warrants are a must because you’ll need to find the accountable party that was the result of that crash and hold someone accountable, whether it is financially or on a criminal citation,” Patton said.
He said he believes deputies can make the roads safer and change driver behavior by “concentrating our efforts on distracted driving and trying to make an impact on that.”
“We are trying to really make an impact on these roads because we are having some serious injuries and deaths and property losses from people just not paying attention” Patton said, adding, “so we are really going to work on that.”
The sheriff said that, “higher visibility of law enforcement will hopefully slow things down and increase driver attentiveness.”
He said his deputies will be focusing on several roads that have been especially problematic.
“We are trying to really make an impact on these roads because we are having some serious injuries and deaths and property losses from people not paying attention,” Patton said.
He added, “We are going to step up enforcement patrols to try to reduce the speeds, reduce the distracted driving and reduce the overall crash data on these focused roads.”
The sheriff said many enforcement initiatives are difficult in inclement weather.
“Once the weather breaks a little bit, we can do a little more with our partners in law enforcement,” Patton said, specifically mentioning air patrols.
Officials said they intend to concentrate on distracted driving for at least 30 days.
The sheriff expressed frustration in the way Ohio’s distracted driving laws are written.
“They had to do something and they wanted to make an effort that they say they are doing something, but that really has no enforcement, so it’s a law…on the books but it’s very difficult to enforce,” Patton said.
He explained that distracted driving is not a “primary offense” meaning that officers cannot stop a vehicle simply because the driver is on the telephone or distracted. Even so, he said, most distracted drivers ultimately break other traffic laws.
“While it is not a primary offense, when they go left of center, or they go a marked lanes violation, then we can pull them over and try to educate people to try to stay off their phones and focus on driving,” Patton said.