DSP continues crackdown on distracted driving

The First State came in first in a recent report on enforcement of distracted driving.   The report by safe wise says Delaware issues over 13,000 tickets per 100,000 drivers.

Compare that statistic to the national average of only 1,300 tickets per 100,000 drivers.

And the enforcement has paid off with Delaware ranking first in number of fatal crashes due to distracted driving in the nation.

However, over 200 people died in Delaware last year due to distracted driving crashes.  To continue the work of stomping out distracted driving, troopers rolled out a new enforcement tactic Thursday on Route 1 with a spotter van that points out violators to troopers ahead in traffic.

It's all part of making drivers more aware and sending the message that distracted driving won't be tolerated.

"The Delaware State Police takes distracted driving very seriously," said Sgt. Richard Bratz with DSP.  "Our goal and our objective is to reduce fatalities, serious crashes, as a matter of fact all crashes in the state of Delaware through our initiatives, safety traffic initiatives like the distracted driving initiative that we are doing today."

Since Delaware's ban went into effect in 2011 it reports more tickets than D.C. and New York, who enacted bans in 2004 and 2001.