In less than two hours, Brownsville police on Wednesday stopped 13 motorists for violating the city’s ordinance on texting and driving during one of the department’s sting operations.
In less than two hours, Brownsville police on Wednesday stopped 13 motorists for violating the city’s ordinance on texting and driving during one of the department’s sting operations.
In an attempt to stop people from texting and driving, the officers were riding in a BMetro bus and looking around the streets to see if any drivers were using their mobile phones while operating a vehicle.
If the officer in the BMetro bus saw a driver using a mobile phone while operating a vehicle, he notified patrolling officers to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle.
“We’re doing this to hopefully enforce compliance,” Sgt. Albert De La Rosa said. “What we want people to do is stop texting and driving. Texting and driving causes so many accidents because people’s attention are divided between the roadway, their vehicle, other vehicles and their device. So hopefully by stopping one person we’re actually cutting down on the number of wrecks we can have in the City of Brownsville.”
According to the City of Brownsville ordinance 98-14, “It shall be unlawful for an operator of a motor vehicle to use a wireless communication device, including a cellular phone or other electronic media device, to view, send, or compose an electronic message or manually engage other application software while operating a motor vehicle upon any public roadway within the city, including when stopped.”
Drivers caught violating the city ordinance can receive a fine of up to $250.
A more complete version of this story is available on www.myBrownsvilleHerald.com
