Distracted Driving Awareness Month a yearly reminder to pay attention

Distracted Driving Awareness Month a yearly reminder to pay attention

By Doug Pacey / ADOT Communications
April 1, 2021

Officially, April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Unofficially, we all should be diligent about reducing distracted driving every day of the year.

In 2019 in Arizona, more than 10,000 drivers involved in crashes were engaged in distracted driving behavior. But the real number is potentially much higher because traffic safety stakeholders say some drivers don’t admit to being distracted or died in the crash.

Earlier this year, civil penalties for violations of Arizona’s hands-free law went into effect. Drivers who talk or text on a device that is not engaged in hands-free mode may receive a fine between $75 and $149 for the first violation and subsequent violations can be as much as $250.

While ADOT doesn’t police roadways for distracted drivers, we’re doing our part to increase awareness about the dangers of distracted driving. We’ve created a series of off-beat public service announcements that feature people doing activities most of us find terrifying.

What do the fearless fear? Distracted drivers, of course.

All of ADOT’s distracted driving PSAs can be found at azdot.gov/terrify.