The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is teaming up with safety partners nationwide to remind drivers to avoid using phones and other distractions behind the wheel.
NHTSA’s U Drive. U Text. U Pay. high-visibility enforcement campaign is being held to coincide with April’s National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
Law enforcement officers will be stopping drivers who are texting behind the wheel and educating them on the risks of driving distracted.
The campaign, now in its eighth year, is targeting drivers age 18 to 34 – who, according to NHTSA data, are more likely to die in distraction-affected crashes than any other age group.
“By working with law enforcement and local communities, we can educate and empower drivers to put the phone down and focus on the road. No one should lose their life because of a text message,” said Dr. Steven Cliff, NHTSA’s Deputy Administrator.
“In working with localities and law enforcement, NHTSA is also helping ensure that these distracted driving enforcement efforts are conducted in a fair and equitable way.”
NHTSA data shows that more than 29,000 people died in crashes involving a distracted driver from 2012 to 2020. In 2020, distracted driving crashes accounted for 13% of all injury crashes and 3,142 deaths nationwide.
