Cops To Crackdown On Texting & Driving This Week

Starting last night, the NYPD will be cracking down on people using cell phones while driving and failing to yield to pedestrians in a citywide initiative that will run through midnight Tuesday, and then again for another 24 hours starting at midnight on Friday, May 16.

The use of a hand-held cell phone and texting while driving is illegal, and the NYPD wants to remind people that driving while operating, talking, or texting on a cell phone is dangerous both for drivers and pedestrians.

The NYPD adds that “preserving the right of way for pedestrians is a primary focus of the NYPD’s traffic safety mission,” and that drivers should yield to pedestrians at intersections to keep everyone safe.

In March (the last period for which data is available), the 70th Precinct issued 239 summonses to drivers using cell phones, and 99 summonses to drivers who did not give the right of way to pedestrians. In all of 2013, they issued 2,479 cell phone summonses, and 247 summonses for not giving right of way to pedestrians.