BHPD Cracks Down on Texting While Driving

Beverly Hills motorists appear to be ignoring the almost 2-year-old ban on texting while driving, according to the Beverly Hills Police Department.

"We are actively enforcing the ban on texting while driving," said Lt. Mark Rosen, BHPD's traffic bureau commander. "We view distracted driving to be as dangerous as drunk driving."

That crackdown has resulted in police officers issuing 1,491 citations to drivers in Beverly Hills since January, Rosen said. And there is one message that he would like to get across to drivers: Hands free means hands free.

"It is breaking the law to hold a cell phone in your hand while driving, even if you are using the speaker," Rosen said. "We are trying to encourage drivers to put their cell phones in the glove box so they won't be distracted while driving. If that doesn't work, then just pull over for 30 seconds and make your call."

Rosen stressed that his officers are always looking for drivers using their cell phones behind the wheel, but that periodically throughout the year he will send motorcycles officers out on patrol with the express purpose of ticketing drivers using their cell phones.

A survey by the Automobile Club of Southern California found that before the statewide ban on texting while driving went into effect in January 2009, three Auto Club surveys conducted in 2008 showed that about 1.4 percent of motorists were texting at any point in time.

Then two surveys conducted in May and July 2009—after the texting law took effect—revealed that texting (or manipulating electronic devices) while behind the wheel had dropped about 70 percent, to 0.5 percent of drivers. But figures recently compiled found that texting while driving has now more than doubled to 1.1 percent of motorists on the road.

"It's over a year after California's texting ban was implemented, and texting is rising toward the level it was before the law," said Steven Bloch, Ph.D., the Auto Club's senior researcher. "These results are disappointing. The fact that we're seeing a statistically significant rise in texting despite the state ban indicates that additional efforts are needed to help deal with the problem."