It took Illinois State Troopers just two-and-a-half hours to issue a whopping 135 citations for distracted driving to motorists on the Kennedy Expressway Monday.
Illinois' distracted driving laws include ban on cell phone use for bus drivers and novice drivers and a ban on texting for all drivers. Texting scofflaws face fines of $120.
Though texting drivers were the most common offenders, the Sun-Times reports one state trooper nabbed a man who was actually shaving while driving along the Kennedy Expressway.
His reason? The (quite obviously) distracted driver told the trooper that he was late for work.
“He was trying to multitask,” State Police Lt. David Byrd. said. “At least it was an electric shaver and not a bowl of water and shaving cream.”
Byrd told the Associated Press texting and driving is nearly as dangerous as drunken driving and says even non-fatal crashes caused by distracted texting drivers -- like rear-end crashes -- are common during rush hour and snarl the interstates.
Chicago has a local ordinance that bans motorists from talking on a cell phone they're holding while driving, though State Police don't enforce the law. That will change, however, next year. Jan. 1, a new state law goes into effect banning drivers from talking on a hand-held phone while driving.
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