Police Cracking Down 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.

Police in the 78th Precinct conducted a failure to yield sting in our area in January, where an undercover police officer would walk through an intersection, and another officer would be there to stop and issue summonses to drivers who failed to yield to the pedestrian, who had the right of way. The sting results in dozens of summons issued in a short period of time.

So far this year through March, the most recent month for which data is available, the 78th Precinct has issued 337 summonses for drivers using cell phones, and 85 for failing to yield to pedestrians.