Northwest Iowa — Effective July 1st of this year, texting while driving became a primary offense, meaning that law enforcement can pull you over for texting, or other uses of your smart phone, while you drive. Now, the Iowa State Patrol is stepping up their enforcement of the new law in some creative ways.
Iowa State Patrol Trooper Vince Kurtz says drivers on Iowa roadways are often meeting distracted drivers.
In an effort to help make that change, Trooper Kurtz says the Iowa State Patrol will have an upcoming enforcement effort here in northwest Iowa.
In some areas of the state, Kurtz tells us that enforcement campaigns have included plain clothes troopers in RVs, and on bulldozers in construction zones, radioing violator information to uniformed troopers who then make the traffic stop.
He says the special enforcement campaign isn’t a “gotcha” campaign, which is why the Iowa State Patrol is giving advance notice to drivers.
Distracted driving is responsible for a large percentage of traffic crashes in Iowa, and is responsible for numerous traffic fatalities each year.
