Drivers in the state of New Jersey have to be careful this month when driving, and make sure to stay off their phones. Grants for amped up patrols have been granted to 38 law enforcement agencies in efforts to support the larger nationwide movement, “U Text, U Drive, U Pay”, where drivers will be fined for texting while driving. This effort is similar to the “Click it or Ticket” and the “Drive Sober, or get Pulled Over” movements from law enforcement over previous years.

Zach Hosseini, a state Division of Highway Traffic Safety spokesman for New Jersey, says, “State safety officials are hoping this effort will reduce distracted driving in the same way that “Click It or Ticket” increased seat belt use in the state over several years…The hope is when the public identifies that police are looking for this, they’ll change their behavior.”

Hosseini went on to say that law enforcement and penalty fines are the only way to make the public change its general behavior. “We can plead with people in Public Service Announcements and in videos of (crash) victims’ families trying to move on, that might resonate for an hour,” he said. “The enforcement campaigns, tickets and penalties make a difference.”

A survey performed by AAA in 2014 found that motorists acknowledged the distracted driving was a serious problem in New Jersey and nationwide, but haven’t changed their own cell phone habits while driving. That survey found that 31 percent of drivers polled believe they are not distracted while talking on their cell phone and driving, but 82 percent said they believe that others are distracted while doing the same thing.