New York – The number of drivers issued a ticket for talking on a hand-held cellphone is dropping in New York state — though more people than ever are being caught texting while behind the wheel.
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Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday that the number of tickets issued to people violating the state’s ban on texting while drivinghas increased by 840 percent since 2011.
Drivers received 132,000 tickets in 2015 for talking on a hand-held cellphone, down from nearly 250,000 tickets in 2011.
Tickets for texting while driving have shot up from 9,000 in 2011 to nearly 85,000 last year as smartphones became more common.
State police will conduct stepped-up enforcement of the ban on texting while driving starting Friday and lasting through Wednesday.
First-time offenders can face fines of up to $200.
sure the numbers are going up, if the officer thinks or taught you were texting, he just pulls you over and gives a ticket, there is no way that it could be proven otherwise, maybe only if you have a video recorder in your vehicle, and i believe every car should invest in a good quality video recorder, just for saving the trouble of receiving 1 ticket, the money invested is a great return
Makes sense that tickets for talking have gone down as more cars now have blue tooth devices built in.
Offenders of texting should be severely punished buy either having their devices confiscated, licenses suspended or both. Taking your eyes off the road just for a second can be catastrophic