Albemarle police say distracted driving and speeding main causes for tickets and crashes

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) - The Albemarle County Police Department says it has seen a drop in fatal crashes this year. Despite this, officers are still seeing a lot of craziness on highways and byways.

ACPD says distracted driving and speeding are the two main causes for tickets and crashes.

“We could spend time on Seminole Trail and you can write tickets here all day with the amount of people speeding and on cell phones,” Sgt. Dean Dott said Wednesday, July 19.

The department ran a study on Seminole Trail back in October: “In the two days the data showed that 18,115 vehicles came past it, and that 9,483 of them were driving way about the posted speed limit,” Dott said.

The sergeant says they wrote more than 70 tickets for cell phones in a roughly 10 hour time period.

“You don’t have to be texting. You don’t have to be doing anything. Holding it in your hand is a violation,” Dotts said. “The first offense is $125.”

County data shows 18% of crashes were attributed to distracted driving, while speeding counted for 16%.

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