Crashes, deaths decline in first year of 'hands-free' law's enforcement, patrol says

During her time as a highway maintenance worker for the Ohio Department of Transportation, Heather Jeudruch says she and her crew have had more than one close call with vehicles that drifted because of driver inattention to the road.

When traffic is whizzing by at 65 or 70 mph, and there’s only about four feet between live traffic and a work area, it’s scary, Ms. Jeudruch, a Bowling Green resident who works with a crew based at the Lucas County maintenance garage, said Wednesday afternoon.

Ohio State Highway Patrol statistics suggest a new distracted-driving law that became enforceable with fines just over a year ago is having a beneficial effect, but compliance isn’t universal.

“There are still incidents with people looking more at their devices, other people in the car, or a laptop in the passenger’s seat,” she said. “It’s your life as well as ours. We’ve got family we want to get home to also.”

Ms. Jeudruch spoke during a news conference ODOT and the state patrol held at the Lucas County garage to outline the perceived effects of the law, known also as Ohio’s “hands-free law” because of its provisions specific to hand-held electronic devices like smart phones and tablets.

At freeway speeds, a driver whose eyes leave the road for just a few seconds can cover more than the length of a football field in that time, delaying their reaction to other drivers’ actions, animals entering the roadway, and other hazards, said Sgt. Ryan Purpura, a highway patrol spokesman.

Statewide, the highway patrol and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s office announced Wednesday, there were 1,112 fewer crashes attributed to distracted driving between Oct. 5, 2023, and Oct. 4, 2024, than there had been during the same period a year before, and fatal crashes blamed on distraction declined by 19.4 percent.

“This is exactly what we expected would happen,” Governor DeWine said in a prepared statement. “Ohio’s tougher distracted-driving law is influencing better behavior behind the wheel, leading to fewer crashes and fewer deaths. Together, we are promoting a culture of responsibility on our roads, and that’s truly something to celebrate.”

Noting as well that distracted-driving crashes are believed to be substantially underreported, the statement said overall crashes in Ohio were down by nearly 15,400 during the comparison year, and the number of traffic deaths declined by 138.

Oct. 5, 2023, was the day police officers could begin writing tickets, not just issue warnings, to enforce the law that had taken effect the previous April forbidding drivers to manipulate electronic devices behind the wheel.

The law makes it illegal for a driver to use or hold a cell phone or similar device in a hand, on the lap, or anywhere else on the body. Whereas in the past a police officer could only cite such activity after pulling a vehicle over for errant driving, the current law allows a traffic stop for mere observation of unlawful electronic-device use.

Violators are subject to a $150 fine and two license points for a first offense, $250 and three points for a second offense within two years, and a $500 fine, four points, and 90-day license suspension for a third violation within two years. Fines also may be doubled for violations in a work zone.

During the law’s first 12 months, troopers in the state patrol’s Districts 1 and 2, covering northwest Ohio, issued 6,025 citations for distracted driving, Sgt. Purpura said. That included 837 in Lucas County and 463 in Wood County, up from 41 and 55 respectively in those counties during the previous 12 months, he said.

Those counts include “enhancements” attached to tickets for other moving violations, such as improper use of lanes or failure to obey stop signs or traffic signals, in which the trooper learned during the traffic stop that the behavior was a result of distraction.

Statewide, the sergeant said, the patrol issued more than 25,000 distracted-driving tickets during the law’s first year.

But the crash statistics show the law is having a positive effect, even if not everyone obeys it.

“It is changing that behavior, getting people to put their phones down and getting them to focus on the roadway in front of them,” Sgt. Purpura said.