Marin Drivers Warned to Hang Up The Phone

How often do you look over at the car in the lane next to you only to see the driver on a cell phone? The California Highway Patrol has a warning for distracted drivers: That call could be very costly.

As part of April's national Distracted Driving Awareness Month campaign, California Highway Patrol officers in Marin County issued 315 moving violations.

Drivers were cited without warning during the enforcement operation, which began April 1 and lasted through Tuesday.

The cost of a ticket for first-time distracted driving offenses is $161.

"Distracted driving" including citations for cellphone use without a hands free device, texting while driving and talking on a cell phone or texting while driving and under the age of 18, according to Officer Andrew Barclay.

"The No. 1 thing people think of is cell phones, but distracted driving really is anything that takes your focus away from driving: changing a CD, looking at your GPS, reaching over to pick up something that fell on the floor," Barclay said.

The CHP warns drivers to avoid talking on the phone at all while driving. In a report, it stated that studies actually show that there is no difference in the risks between hands-free and hand-held cell phone conversations, both of which can result in "inattention blindness," a term that refers to the brain being unable to see clearly because the driver's focus is on the conversation and not on the road.

In fact, police reported that distracted drivers caused the deaths of an estimated 3,331 people nationally in 2011. Studies show texting while driving can delay a driver's reaction time just as severely as having a blood alcohol content of a legally drunk driver.

The CHP urges drivers to take caution while driving by putting your phone out of reach while driving and avoid calling or texting another while they may be driving.

— Bay City News contributed to this article