Don’t be a distracted driver

The Rexburg Police Department is working on four new public announcements focused on safe driving.

The first PSA was filmed Saturday morning, and it intends to get the message across on the dangers of driving while distracted.

Distracted driving is when a person who is behind the wheel of a vehicle is doing another activity and that takes their focus off the road. It can increase the chance of a motor vehicle crash.

The commercial is funded through a grant provided by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and funded by the Idaho Office of Highway Safety in Boise.

Rexburg Police Sgt. Brian Allen said the department is concerned about public safety, and part of their efforts to ensure that the public is safe include producing public service announcements that address the problem that we have here in Rexburg.

“Distracted driving can be anything from operating a cell phone to changing radio stations, texting, basically something that distracts the driver from paying attention to what is happening around them on the road,” Allen said.

Allen also said each day in the United States, over eight people are killed and 1,161 are injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver.

“Distracted driving is probably one of the greatest contributing factors to a crash that we have here in Rexburg, it contributes to cars running into the back of other cars, drivers not seeing other cars at intersections, and pedestrians it is a major contributing factor to all the crashes. Is it a problem here? Yes,” Allen said.

The police department hopes that after seeing the messages people will put their cell phones down, said Allen.

Distracted driving is a misdemeanor offense.