CLEVELAND — Enforcement of Ohio's new texting while driving law varied significantly during the first six months of enforcement.
Data obtained by News 5 showed that Ohio State Highway Patrol issued 8,268 tickets statewide. However, this is how many tickets the largest five cities in Northeast Ohio issued during the same stretch:
1. Akron - 264 violations
2. Cleveland - 113 violations
3. Parma - 39 violations
4. Lorain - 3 violations
5. Canton - 1 violation
The data collected consists of violations that occurred from Oct. 5, 2023 to March 26, 2024. For the first six months, police agencies were only issuing warnings to drivers as part of an educational awareness of the new law that went into effect in April 2023.
Learn more details about the law and how it is being enforced from our report when tickets began being issued in October 2023:
Senate Bill 288, which was signed into law in January 2023, made texting and driving a primary offense in the state, which means law enforcement can stop and issue citations to drivers solely for that offense.
Before, police in jurisdictions where texting was a secondary offense needed another reason to initiate a stop, such as speeding or blowing through a red light.
As Sgt. David D’Eusanio, Parma Police Traffic Unit Supervisor, points out, he saw a heavy emphasis on education when the bill first passed and went into effect.
Now though, he is seeing the problem creep back up.
"I was surprised when I saw that statistic of only 39 [tickets issued in Parma]," he said. "I think the educational awareness is out there, but people still do it though. They can’t help themselves. It’s a world of electronics."
The law does include several exceptions, including using a handheld phone for emergency calls, while parked or stopped at a red light, swiping/pressing to accept or decline a call, or if the driver simply holds the phone to their ear.
Is the new law making the roads safer? Data points to yes.
Data from the Ohio State Highway Patrol shows an 11% decline in crashes involving distracted driving in 2023.
In 2022, troopers reported 10,281 distracted driving crashes, compared to 9,154 in 2023 when the law first passed and went into effect.
In the past five years, 185 people have died in Ohio from traffic crashes involving distracted driving, with more than 29,000 injured.
Students push for raised awareness about dangers of texting while driving
For high school seniors Harvey Kever and Steven Duffy, distracted driving is not something they tolerate.
The two are both members of "Family Community Career Leaders of America," a club at Woodridge High School in Cuyahoga Falls. For the past year, the two have worked to raise awareness about distracted and impaired driving after their friend was a passenger in a distracted driving crash in February 2023.
"The driver ran a stop sign," Duffy said. "They t-boned another car and almost hit a house. [Our friend] had half his face marked up bruised and burned. We’ve known [our friend] since we were 8 years old and decided to do something right after that."
Since then, the two have educated hundreds of classmates and plan to expand their talk to other school districts as well.
"Texting while driving is still definitely a problem," Kever said.
"You can literally walk out on Quick Road [in front of our school] right now and you’ll probably see 50% of the drivers texting," Duffy said. "In a school zone too!"
They told News 5 the new law helps, but more is still needed to change the behavior of teenagers.
"Kids our age: you’re going to meet someone who is going to die in an accident sooner or later," Duffy lamented. "A horrible thing to say, but make sure it’s not you."
How bad is getting a ticket?
Drivers face the following penalties if ticketed with texting while driving under the new law :
- First Violation: Up to $150 fine and two points on your license, unless a distracted driving safety course is completed.
- Second Violation (within two years): Up to $250 fine and three points on your license
- Third Violation (within two years): up to $500 fine, four points on your license and a 90-day driver's license suspension
Clay LePard is a special projects reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter @ClayLePard or on Facebook Clay LePard News 5.
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