By Sgt. Earl Mays
On Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. the Carson City Sheriff’s Office will deploy deputies throughout Carson City in attempt to locate distracted drivers, mainly drivers talking or texting on cellular phones. The funding for this operation is provided by a Joining Forces grant.
The Carson City Sheriff’s Office will be working diligently during this time frame in an attempt to locate and educate drivers of distracted driving. The education will come from warnings and/or traffic citations. The Sheriff’s Office urges drivers to not text and drive and put the phone down. If the use of a cellular phone is absolutely necessary, please pull to the side of the road in a safe place to make the call or text, not while you are driving.
In the state of Nevada, you may not talk on a phone, by holding it to your ear, or read or send text messages, emails, or other forms of electronic communication, while you are behind the wheel operating a motor vehicle. The only exception to this is if you are using a Bluetooth device. The fine for a first offense is $50. In addition there is a State fee of $45, Court fee of $13, and an Offense fee of $7 for a total fine of $115.
In the month of October the Carson City Sheriff’s Office wrote 36 cell phone related traffic citations. So far, for the month of November the Sheriff’s Office wrote 11 traffic citations for cell phone violations. Please put the phone away while you are driving.
For resources about distracted driving, please visit: www.distraction.gov/stats-research-laws/facts-and-statistics.html
For more information on Joining Forces and other statewide traffic safety programs, please visit www.zerofatalitiesnv.com. Follow Zero Fatalities Nevada on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and @ZeroFatalitiesNV.
