As spring vacation travel is picking up, the California Highway Patrol wants to, once again, highlight the dangers of distracted driving. April is usually designated as Distracted Driving Awareness Month. But Officer Jason Bice, at the Grass Valley Office, says it doesn’t necessarily mean any special enforcement. As always, mobile phone use is the top concern. Bice says that can increase the chance of an accident by around 400-percent…

click to listen to Officer Bice

And although warnings are often used with drivers that are pulled over, the CHP did issue over 55-thousand citations last year, statewide…

click to listen to Officer Bice

And starting in July of last year, the minimum distracted driving fine jumped to 162-dollars, not counting court fees and other related government fees. In 2021, driver inattention resulted in over 13-thousand crashes in California. At least 56 distracted drivers were involved in fatal accidents and nearly 63-hundred other distracted drivers were involved in injury crashes.