June Texting-and-Driving Crackdown

Massachusetts has been awarded $275,000 in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration federal grant funds to increase enforcement of the Massachusetts Safe Driving Law which bans the sending, typing or reading of electronic messages to or from handheld devices while operating a motor vehicle and a complete ban on the use of all handheld electronic devices by junior operators while behind the wheel.

This pilot project, called “Text With One Hand, Ticket In The Other,” will give Massachusetts State Police the ability to test the high-visibility enforcement  model and effectively observe distracted driver behaviors through proven enforcement strategies.

The Safe Driving Law went into effect on September 30, 2010.

The specialized enforcement will take place in two to four week intervals over the next two years.   The first installment will occur from June 10 to June 29 on state roadways in the twelve communities covered by MSP Troop A-1:  Andover, Dracut, Dunstable, Lawrence, Lowell, Methuen, North Andover, North Reading, Reading, Tewksbury, Tyngsboro and Wilmington.

State Officials from the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, MSP, and NHTSA are scheduled to gather Wednesday at Troop A-1 headquarters in Andover to discuss this public safety law.