The Colorado Department of Transportation is launching a “Drop the Distraction” campaign to raise awareness about distracted driving and newly enacted harsher penalties and is also seeking victims of distracted driving who are willing to share their stories.
Distracted drivers are involved in an average of 40 crashes each day in Colorado, and in 2016 those crashes resulted in 67 fatalities, according to a CDOT press release.
Gov. John Hickenlooper signed into law June 1 a bill that increased a first distracted driving offense from a $50 fine and 1 point on a driver’s record to a $300 fine and 4 points.
“Twenty-two percent of surveyed Coloradans admit to having read a message recently while driving, 64 percent selected entertainment on a mobile device, and 33 percent talked on a hand-held phone. The stats are alarming,” said Darrell Lingk, director of CDOT’s Office of Transportation Safety.
“The dangers of using your phone while driving are very real. We hope that by recognizing the increased risk, drivers will defer using their hand-held devices while driving, thus leading to improved safety on our roadways.”
CDOT is launching a media campaign this week that aims to reach Coloradans on the source of the problem – their phones – and where they are committing the offense – their cars.
The agency is advertising on Pandora ads, traffic radio and 250,000 coffee sleeves at 70 coffee shops across the Denver metro area. Those ads are supplemented with connected TV, digital ads, search engine marketing and paid social media.
In addition, CDOT is seeking volunteers to participate in short testimonial videos about the dangers of distracted driving. By featuring real stories from victims, Lingk said, CDOT will show the real-life consequences of distracted driving.
In particular, CDOT is asking for individuals who:
• Have been hit by a distracted driver while driving a vehicle, walking or biking.
• Have been a passenger in a vehicle that caused a crash because of distracted driving.
• Are emergency service personnel or law enforcement who have seen firsthand the effects of distracted driving.
Interested volunteers can apply to share their story at distraction.codot.gov.
CDOT is also encouraging Coloradans to download mobile apps intended to cut down on phone functionality while driving and allow drivers to stay focused on the road. To view some of these distracted driving prevention apps, visit distraction.codot.gov.
For more information about distracted driving in Colorado, visit distraction.codot.gov.