Texting while driving is exceptionally dangerous -- and exceptionally difficult to detect. To gain a better look at the thumbs of offending drivers, New York State police officers have recently been armed with 32 unmarked SUVs, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Along with harsher penalties, the move to SUVs is part of a larger plan to reduce texting and driving in New York. The state has also tried to work with compulsive texters, who can now pull off major highways and unto "Texting Zones," according to the WSJ.
"To our knowledge, New York is the first," Jonathan Adkins, deputy executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, said of the SUV fleet and other texting deterrents. "It's an intriguing approach and one that we think will pay dividends and be duplicated in other states."
Though it's still early to gauge how SUVs have helped catch texters, Trooper Clayton Howell said the relative anonymity of the vehicles and their higher vantage point gives officers a huge advantage.
"You can see how oblivious they are to this vehicle," Howell told PC Magazine. "I'm right next to them, and they have no idea."
"Look at that," Howell told the WSJ while monitoring the highways north of New York City. "This guy's looking down. I can see his thumb on the phone. I think we got him."
Even before the use of SUVs, New York was issuing significantly more tickets for thumb-happy drivers. Over 5,000 drivers received tickets for texting and driving this summer compared to less than 1,000 during the same time last year, the WSJ reported.
New York is one of 41 states that forbids texting and driving and is one of just 12 to ban cell phone use while driving, according to the WSJ.
