Tomball and Magnolia law enforcement authorities are working to make the roads safer by honing in on two of the most common reasons for car crashes and fatalities—distracted driving and driving while intoxicated.
Magnolia Police Department Capt. James Senegal said it is difficult to measure exactly how many accidents are a direct result of distracted driving. Police officers must be able to directly prove cell phone use is the cause of a car wreck, hear testimony from a witness or receive a confession from the driver to issue a citation, according to a report from the National Security Council. Because of those reasons, crashes and fatalities caused by distracted drivers tend to be grossly underreported, Senegal said.
"We know [distracted driving incidents occur], but we can't prove it [often]," Senegal said. "It wasn't very long ago when [police officers] finally added that on a crash report to say whether cell phone use contributed to the crash."
Texting ordinances
In Tomball, authorities outlawed messaging and driving in 2010. From 2013–14, eight citations were administered, according to the Tomball Municipal Court.
"The main purpose for the ordinance was more to create awareness than enforcement," Tomball Police Department Capt. Rick Grassi said. "We try to make drivers aware that texting is distracting, but the problem with a no-texting ordinance is it is hard to enforce. It is hard to determine whether someone is calling, texting or checking their email. Instead, it has to be a very blatant violation."
In 2011, the city of Magnolia also enacted a no texting while driving ordinance to cut down on distracted driving within city limits. The ordinance covers all aspects of wireless messaging, including emailing or mobile applications, such as Facebook or Twitter.
In the first few months following the passage of the ordinance, Senegal said officers administered warnings to distracted drivers and soon began issuing citations. In 2011, the department issued 35 citations, and officials have not since issued any citations for violations of the ordinance due to an increase in compliance, he said.
"It's important to have that ordinance because we have more accidents related to distracted driving outside of alcohol or drug impairment than anything else," Senegal said. "There are more crashes related to cell phones than [driving while intoxicated incidents], but the [statistics] don't show it because when you go to the scene of a DWI [accident] you can tell alcohol has been involved versus a person texting. People don't like to admit they were texting."
To further combat the problem of distracted driving, Senegal said MPD plans to implement a driving program for teen drivers called Alive at 25 in the near future. The course is designed to educate drivers between the ages of 15 and 24 about the dangers of distracted driving.
Driving under the influence rates
Law enforcement agencies work together to develop proactive solutions for reducing DWI and DUI incidents, said Lt. Brady Fitzgerald with the Montgomery County sheriff's office. The department gauges the community's needs to determine whether to add more officers on the streets during specific times of the year, he said.
"We target different time periods like holiday breaks when the kids come home for no-refusal periods," Fitzgerald said.
Tomball police officers conduct similar initiatives with extra nightly patrols on various streets, Grassi said. The department partners with Magnolia, Harris and Montgomery counties and the Texas Department of Transportation to increase DWI patrols.
