The new distracted driving law has been in place since July 23 and cities in the area are taking different enforcement approaches.
Black Diamond
According to Larry Colagiovanni, the new commander for the Black Diamond Police Department, as soon as the law took effect officers began ticketing people for distracted driving.
Colagiovanni said the reason was he thinks the public is already very informed about the new law, and at recent traffic safety council meetings, the cities of Black Diamond, Auburn and Kent all agreed not to set a grace period.
Black Diamond police have been giving educational pamphlets to people about the new law when they pulled them over for any reason.
“We have been educating our motorists in the city for a couple of months, we give cards to any violator,” Colagiovanni said.
So far, people have been OK with the new law and have been more excited for it than anything according to Colagiovanni.
He said he has not heard any complaints about what the new law entails, which is drivers can’t do anything on their phone, as far as first offenses go and for second-hand offenses, motorists cannot eat, drink, do their hair, or just anything that could possibly distract them at the wheel, and they can receive up to a $99 fine.
“Most people have been complying with the law, I think it’s really going to knock down our distracted driving accidents,” he said. “They (the public) do actually appreciate the law.”
Colagiovanni made the point that with bluetooth capabilities these days, people have been transitionally to hands-free devices anyway.
According to Colagiovanni, Black Diamond is “interesting” because it’s a smaller city in general, so to enforce the law, officers in the area only have to deal with residents of the city and people passing through the city on Maple Valley Highway.
He said he sat on the highway for about an hour one day in an unmarked police car and only saw one person distracted while driving.
“It was boring, but in a good way,” Colagiovanni said. “I was pleasantly surprised that I saw people paying attention to the road.”
Colagiovanni said he thinks this law is going to be a good thing and that it will bring distracted driving crashes down.
Covington
Covington is no stranger to this law according to Police Chief Andrew McCurdy. He said in 2013 the city passed a law similar to the new distracted law and have routinely enforced the law.
He said, “For distracted driving, our approach is not going to change significantly.”
In May, the Covington Police Department hosted a “train the trainer” course for a program called “Impact Teen Drivers”, McCurdy said.
The course certified about 20 officers from local agencies to go into school to present a class called “What’s Lethal” that tried to create an awareness about reckless driving. McCurdy said officers will be using a lot of what they learned in that training to educate the public about the new law.
“The reality is, our whole society has become more distracted, but while driving a motor vehicle people need to stay focused on driving,” he said.
As far as what the department plans to do for the month of August in regards to people violating the law, violators will be advised and educated on the new law and given a handout about the law.
He said tickets will be issued, but the focus will be education. Once September rolls around, they will continue to educate about the law, but will focus more on enforcement.
McCurdy said he thinks the new law will help keep people off of their phones while they drive.
“At first the new law will help reduce the number of drivers who are distracted and later we will see a reduction in the number of collisions that involve drivers being distracted,” Officer Dave Crissna said.
The new law combined with traffic emphasis and enforcement will change drivers behaviors and promote safer roadways according to McCurdy.
Maple Valley
Chief D.J. Nesel of the Maple Valley Police Department said there are laws already in place in Maple Valley with cell phone usage and that there is nothing really new about this.
He said the new distracted driving law clarifies what is already in place, but adds more to it making it harder to get out of tickets.
“It’s like they grouped all these excuses and were like ‘no, enough,’” Nesel said.
He said before the distracted driving law was put in place, he and his officers would go off inattentive driving, which is when the driver is not paying attention to the speed they are going or of their surroundings, according to the Maple Valley ordinance.
Within the next 30 days, Nesel said they will be focusing on educating regarding the added regulations, but as far as cell phone usage, violators will get a ticket depending what the officer on duty decides to do.
“The next 30 days is to hand out the a brochures and explain it (the law) to them,” he said. “If it’s texting or talking on the phone, it’s under the officers discretion, I don’t take that discretion away from my officers.”
The nicer someone is to the officer, the more likely the officer will let them off with a warning, according to Nesel. That is, as long as it’s a first-time violation.
“If they’re willing to listen and want to commit to changing, we give them a warning,” Nesel said.
By the start of school this fall, Nesel said he wants to educate high school students about this law.
He got this idea from Councilwoman Erin Weaver, who said high school students need to be educated about this law.
“That stuck in my mind, I said ‘why don’t we coordinate with the school,’” Nesel said.
He said teens are “rocket-fast” at texting and think they can quickly send a text while driving, but the outcome can be life threatening.
The main goal is to get this message out to the teens and their parents, Nesel said.
“By the time school starts, everyone in town should know what the law reads,” he said.
According to Nesel, even officers are following the distracted driving law. As long as it’s not an emergency, officers are supposed to pull over to the side and park their cars before using their phone or laptops.
Editor’s note: A mistake about the city councils has been corrected.
