Has HPD Given Up On Nabbing Distracted Drivers?

This morning while walking near the intersection of 6th and State, I noticed a car headed east on State approaching the stop sign.  The male driver had both hands at the top of the steering wheel, close to the 11:00 and 1:00 positions.  Each of the driver's hands was also holding on to his cell phone that he was staring at and using his thumbs to write something really important to someone.  Or maybe he was searching for an important website of some sort.  What he was not doing was paying close to 100% attention to the road in front of and around him.  He stopped for the stop sign and proceeded up State Street, cell phone still touching his steering wheel and held directly in front of his face, thumbs-a-twitchin', and in plain view of anyone nearby.

The number of distracted drivers I see these days is frightening.  It is as if certain drivers do not care if they get caught, or they know they won't get caught (at least in Hudson).  Some people know better, but just can't help themselves.  It is like a sickness or addiction.

I recently received the list of citation charges issued by HPD for the months of April and May.  There was not one ticket issued by HPD to a distracted driver over the course of those two months.  Not one!  Given how prevalent people driving with phones in their hands is in Hudson, I wonder if HPD is even looking for distracted drivers.

The acting Police Chief David Miller told the council last month that HPD performed a "bunny detail" (Buckle Up NY) sometime in May down by the bay road, as they do every year.  He said the department was "able to get a lot of violations" from the effort.  According to the list of citations issued in May, HPD issued just two SAFETY BELT VIOLATION tickets.

Here are the three most popular vehicle citation charges that HPD issued during the months of April and May this year:

12  FAIL TO STOP AT STOP SIGN (April)

13  OPERTING UNINSPECTED MOTOR VEHICLE (April)

16  OPERATING UNINSPECTED MOTOR VEHICLE (May)