LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) kicked off its distracted driving high visibility enforcement campaign Monday, April 1, 2024, which
will run through Monday, April 8. The South Carolina Department of Public Safety and all law enforcement agencies in the state including the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office will participate with stepped-up enforcement to deter and detect distracted drivers.
According to NHTSA, from 2021 through 2021, 32,657 people were killed across the nation in distracted driving wrecks. The number of deaths in 2021 was 3,522, which was 380 more than in 2020. Distracted driving crashes accounted for 8% of all fatal crashes, 14% of all injury crashes, and 13% of all crashes reported to the police in 2021.
Texting behind the wheel is likely the most common form of distracted driving. It is illegal in South Carolina to text while driving. Section 56-5-3890 of the Code of Laws of South Carolina provides, “It is unlawful for a person to use a wireless electronic communication device to compose, send, or read a text-based communication while operating a motor vehicle on the public streets and highways of this State.” A cell phone is a “wireless electronic communication device”, but the term also includes personal digital assistants, text-messaging devices, and computers. The penalty for a violation of this law is a $25.00 fine.
According to the law, it is not illegal to use one of these devices when the car is lawfully parked or stopped, when the device is operated in the hands-free mode, when the device is used to call for emergency assistance, or when the device is used for navigation or traffic and road condition information.
The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office Street Crimes Unit will be out in all areas of the county through next Monday looking for drivers who are texting behind the wheel. They will stop cars, issue traffic tickets, and provide offenders with appearance dates for Magistrate Court in an effort to curb distracted driving and reduce collisions. Unmarked patrol vehicles will be used.
“Distracted driving is dangerous, but it’s also totally avoidable,” said Sheriff Barry Faile. “When we’re driving, 100% of our attention should be on just that – driving. We need to be paying attention to our speed, other cars on the road, motorcycles, pedestrians and bicyclists, and road hazards. If we’re fooling with a cell phone, we aren’t paying attention to the road. At highway speed, if you take your eyes off the road for two seconds to look at your phone, you travel 175 feet without seeing the road or what’s up ahead. During that interval, a child could dart out into the roadway in front of you, and your life and the lives of another family could be forever changed. It’s not worth the risk. If you must communicate with somebody while you’re on the road, pull into a parking lot or some other safe place to take care of your business. Put your phone on “do not disturb” or, better yet, put it away and out of reach. We’re not running this operation to harass motorists or write a bunch of tickets. In fact, I hope we don’t write any tickets. We simply want to get the message across that texting and driving is dangerous and it’s illegal. We want everyone on our roads to be safe.”
