MAP: Distracted Driving Police Checkpoint in Bethel Thursday

With heightened penalties for distracted driving taking effect on Oct. 1, Greater Danbury area police departments are getting together for several enforcement checkpoints through Tuesday, Oct. 15.

See a partial list of dates and locations below. Patch will update when a full list becomes available.
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The checkpoint will be in Bethel on Oct. 10.
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Bethel officers will be joined by police from Danbury, Brookfield, Monroe, Newtown, Redding, Ridgefield and Connecticut State Police.

The new laws increase the penalties for driving while texting or talking on a phone without a hands-free device to $150 for the first offense, $300 for the second and $500 for all subsequent charges.

According to state statistics, 3,331 people were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver in 2011, with another 387,000 reporting injuries.

“Sending or receiving a text takes a driver’s eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds,” according to a release citing statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “Driving at 55 mph, this is the equivalent of traveling the length of an entire football field blind.”

The Institute also notes that drivers using hand-held devices are four times more likely to get into a serious accident.

Checkpoint Locations