The Connecticut Department of Transportation has launched its fourth “U Drive. U Text. U Pay” campaign, with police officers out in full force around the state for the next two weeks looking for distracted drivers.
Aaron Swanson, manager of the DOT’s Distracted Driver Program, says, “High visibility enforcement campaigns like this are meant to target one specific behavior.”
Swanson says they’ve received more than $9 million in federal funding since 2015, which “goes towards overtime shifts for law enforcement to specifically target behaviors where they wouldn't have the resources to do otherwise.”
Swanson says during these campaigns, officers around the state have reported seeing fewer people using handheld devices while driving, but more people begin doing it again a few weeks after the campaigns are over.