Distracted driving and speeding campaign in effect across Indiana

INDIANA (WSBT) — Indiana is cracking down on distracted driving.

It’s part of the annual “Safer Roads Campaign” targeting both distracted and speeding drivers.

The nearly week-long campaign will have officers working overtime to spot distracted drivers violating Indiana’s Hands-Free Law, as the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute partners with State Police to increase patrols across the state.

It’s a big pet peeve of a lot of people, and I think if we’re honest, we’ve all been guilty of either or both of those things at some point during our time of driving,” said Sgt. Ted Bohner, Indiana State Police.

With both Indiana and Michigan being hands-free states, Sgt. Bohner said that it’s not just cellphones that are distracting, but playing with the radio, fixing the GPS or even talking to other passengers play a part.

Indiana is cracking down on distracted driving. It’s part of the annual “Safer Roads Campaign” targeting both distracted and speeding drivers (WSBT File).

This is federally funded overtime and. A lot of people are like, ‘Well, shouldn’t you be looking for these things every day?’ And the answer is a resounding yes, absolutely. It puts extra officers on the road, you know, especially as we kind of get into the spring and the construction season,” said Sgt. Bohner.

As spring begins, travel season becomes busier and accidents increase.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shared their latest data, and said in a statement:

Indiana recorded 249 speeding-related fatalities in 2023, and distracted driving accounted for 47 fatal incidents. However, limitations in data collection suggest that the actual number of deadly crashes caused by distracted drivers is likely higher than reported.

Sgt. Bohner said that spreading awareness of this campaign is important.

Indiana is cracking down on distracted driving. It’s part of the annual “Safer Roads Campaign” targeting both distracted and speeding drivers (WSBT File).

As technology goes, there’s a lot more things to distract us as well. Follow the rules of the road, not just when it comes to speeding, but just everything, driving sober, and wearing your seatbelt. Doing all those things that we can do to make the roads as safe as possible,” said Sgt. Bohner.

The campaign will run from April 4th to April 13th.