The Yamhill County Sheriff's Office will increase patrols on April 11th, 2019 at part of the National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. The Sheriff’s Office was awarded a grant by the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association to pay for these patrols.

The following statistics are just part of the reasons for these increased patrols:

DISTRACTED DRIVING IN OREGON

• “Distracted Driving” is a dangerous behavior for drivers, passengers, and non-occupants alike. Distraction is a specific type of inattention that occurs when drivers divert their attention from the driving task to focus on some other activity instead (per NHTSA).
   
• From 2013-2017 There were 12,006 crashes resulting in 95 fatalities and 18,429 injuries caused by crashes involving a distracted driver in Oregon (all ages).
   
• 2013-2017 There were 1,089 crashes involving a driver (all ages) reported to have been using a cell phone at the time of the crash: 20 fatalities and 1,557 people injured.

• 2013-2017 There were 112 crashes involving a driver age 16-18 reported to have been using a cell phone at the time of the crash: 0 fatalities and 158 people injured.
   
• 2013-2017 There were 72,032 convictions for this offense.
   

                                    Convictions for using a mobile electronic device 2013-2017

2013 -   21,520

2014 -   17,723

2015 -   15,264

2016 -   10,317

2017 -     7,208

Total –  72,032