Law Enforcement Monitoring the Roads During Distracted Driving Awareness Month

The month of April is designated as Distracted Driving Awareness Month. We rode along with Beltrami County Sheriff’s Deputy Lavonte Hardie to get more information on distracted drivers, and how dangerous those drivers can be for everyone around them.

Deputy Hardie is the designated county officer for distracted drivers, who looks for any signs of drivers being distracted while out on the roads.

“Lots of forms of distracted driving,” says Deputy Hardie. “The most popular I see on the phone at stoplights. Texting, talking on the phone, adjusting music. The most common I see is just being on their phone. Obviously we’re in the modern age of technology. People are often addicted to being on their phone while driving when they need to be focusing on the road with traffic safety.”

Deputy Hardie says the signs for distracted driving are a lot clearer to see than some may realize.

“Not as easy to hide it at all,” he explained. “Aside from doing the job for a long time, you could just see it clear as day. When somebody is, that’s the traffic is going by. You just follow along with your eyes and you can see the phone right in their hand and then looking down at it, which is a violation of the law. Especially me, I can spot it like a hawk just because it’s what I do all day.”

Reportedly, most drivers who are pulled over for distracted driving are those between the ages of 16 and 24 years old.

“The reason why it is young drivers, probably just social media,” says Deputy Hardie. “You know, the younger generation, they love social media. I’ve seen it where people are Snapchatting while driving. People are live streaming while driving. Just incredibly egregious and dangerous behavior for the sake of social media. They got to just put the phone down. Focus on driving, because the last thing you want is to cause an accident or get yourself or somebody else hurt or even worse, killed for the sake of posting a cool video on social media.

According to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, distracted driving contributed to nearly 30,000 crashes in the state from 2019 to 2023 and contributed to an average of 29 deaths and 146 life-changing injuries a year during that time.

“Unfortunately, I would say it’s not uncommon,” added Deputy Hardie, “It’s not a daily occurrence, but it is something as far as in Beltrami County, it’s something that does happen. We’ve had plenty of accidents. That distracted driving has been one of the contributing factors to an unfortunate outcome. Whether it’s somebody hurt or, you know, heaven forbid, somebody is deceased from distracted driving.”

Deputy Hardie also spoke about accidents he has personally responded to.

“I myself have responded to a fatal accident and that the deceased person still had their makeup in their hand, and it appears that it was apparent that they were potentially doing makeup while driving, and unfortunately, they did not make it out of that outcome,” he stated. “I’ve noticed that when people get into bad accidents, they don’t expect it to happen. You know, when they put on their boots and lace them up or put on the shoes and they get in the car, they put on their seat belt. The last thing they expect is to be involved in an accident. But it can happen to anyone at any time. And unfortunately, outside of, you know, impaired driving, distracted driving to me is just as dangerous because you need to focus on the road.”

So what are some tips to help with not getting distracted while driving on the roads?

“It can always wait,” Deputy Hardie emphasized. “The text message can always wait. The Snapchat can always wait. The phone call can always wait. Put your phone in “do not disturb” mode. Set it down. Tell yourself it can wait. Generally, when people are going to and from the city, they’re doing at most maybe a 10-minute drive. The message can wait 10 minutes.”

The hands-free law, originally passed in 2019, makes it illegal for drivers to use handheld cell phones while driving across the state of Minnesota. Penalties for violating that law start at $50 for first-time violations, with repeat offenders facing up to $275 in fees.