According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 10 percent of all drivers under age 20 involved in fatal crashes were distracted at the time.

In response to this serious issue, the Central Arkansas Operation Impact Traffic Enforcement Group (CAOITEG) will be on the UALR campus Sept. 22-30 to identify drivers guilty of distracted driving.

Using both marked and unmarked patrol cars, their goal is to reduce crashes, fatalities, injuries, and property damage resulting from distracted driving.

The focus will be on the use of handheld devices, such as smart phones, for texting and similar activity. Drivers caught using such devices while driving will be issued a citation for the violation.

Drivers are in violation of state law if they use wireless devices to type, text message, email or access the internet. If a university police officer stops a driver on the UALR campus, the officer may opt to issue a university citation instead and charge the driver with “unsafe driving.”

Selected officers from central Arkansas area law enforcement agencies, including the UALR Police Department, recently attended the first meeting of the CAOITEG and determined the necessity of educating drivers about texting.

Among the statistics they revealed to the public:

• In 2012, there were 3,328 people killed and 421,000 injured nationwide in distraction-affected crashes.

• The University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) reported that a quarter of teens respond to a text message once or more every time they drive.

• Drivers who were in their twenties made up 27 percent of distracted drivers in fatal crashes.

• Twenty percent of teens and 10 percent of parents admit that they have extended multi-message text conversations while driving.

The mission of the CAOITEG is to establish a cooperative effort among law enforcement agencies and create an alliance to reduce the number of people injured in crashes and decrease the dollar amount of property loss directly associated to vehicular crashes.

For more information, contact Officer Jennifer Sibley at 501.569.8798.