Distracted Driving and Pedestrian Safety Emphasis - March 17 to April 14

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Lynnwood Police Department
19321 44th Ave. W.
Lynnwood, WA 98036

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Drive Safe - Lynnwood 

LYNNWOOD, WA (March 12, 2019) - In an effort to improve the safety of our Lynnwood roadways, our officers will be partnering with the Snohomish County Target Zero Task Force to conduct extra emphasis patrols.  Our focus this spring will be on Distracted Driving and Pedestrian/Cyclist safety.  We will be conducting the emphasis on Pedestrian Safety between March 17 and March 28. Our emphasis on Distracted Driving will be between March 28 and April 14. We will be focusing this emphasis primarily in the area of 196th ST SW and 36th Ave W. 

In 2018, our officers responded to more than 1400 collisions in the City of Lynnwood.  There were over 250 injuries resulting from these collisions.  Forty-four pedestrians/cyclists were injured last year as the result of collisions and sadly, one pedestrian was also killed.

Distracted driving and/or inattentiveness was determined as the primary contributing factor to the vast majority of these collisions.        

Reportedly, nearly one-third of all U.S. drivers 18 to 64 years old read or send text or email messages while driving. Reading or sending text or email messages while driving and other distracted driving behaviors lead to more than 420,000 injuries and more than 3,100 deaths every year in the United States. A car traveling at 55 miles per hour covers more than 80 feet every second. Sending or reading a text message can take the driver’s eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds. Sending or reading a text message while driving a vehicle at 55 miles per hour means, therefore, that the vehicle will travel the length of a football field without any visual guidance. The increased use of electronic devices by drivers has brought new awareness to the problem of distracted driving. Research continues to demonstrate the dangers of driving while using a cell phone and texting. Studies have shown the overall crash risk increases 3.6 times when a driver interacts with a handheld device.

Drivers have a legal obligation to obey the rules of the road and to operate their vehicles in a reasonable manner. This means driving a safe speed, maintaining control, exercising awareness, observing traffic signals, using directional signals and headlights, and avoiding unnecessary distractions. When drivers engage in distracting behavior, they violate that obligation to safely operate their vehicles in a reasonable and responsible manner. Crash risks increase significantly when drivers are distracted. Failure of this obligation can result in a traffic citation or summons for a driver. More importantly, it may tragically result in an injury or fatality for the driver, a passenger, a bystander, or an occupant of another vehicle. This can result in significant criminal and civil implications for the driver and negatively affects public safety.

We ask those who travel through our city to remain attentive while driving, put down their phones and electronic devices, and slow down. Our motorcycle officers will be out in designated areas, enforcing violations and educating the motoring public.  We ask our driving community to partner with us in reducing collisions this year, as we seek to make Lynnwood a safe and welcoming city.   

Commander Sean Doty
LPD Media
LPDMedia@LynnwoodWa.Gov

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