Local law enforcement official talks dangers of texting while driving

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Getting from point A to point B may seem easy enough to even the most inexperienced drivers. But when you get too confident and try to multi task, it can lead to some of the worst outcomes.

“When you take away that thought process when looking down at your phone, your mind turns to your phone it doesn’t turn to your driving anymore. It turns to your phone and what’s happening there with those pieces and parts,” said Trooper Bob Conrad with Iowa State Patrol.

Trooper Conrad warns the dangers of looking at a phone while driving can not only harm you, but others on the road.

“One of the things is we get really good at driving because most of us drive every single day. So when you get really good at something you get that confidence, sometimes I would say overconfident or the attitude of complacency that it will never happen to me, and we see that happen to so many people,” said Trooper Conrad.

He says all law enforcement are trained to look for signs of distracted driving such as swerving, constant speeding up and slowing down, and the obvious sign of the glow of a phone screen.

“They’re obviously distracted, they’re tired or maybe impaired. That’s what we see with distracted drivers, they act a lot like impaired drivers,” said Trooper Conrad.

And while it can oftentimes be a driver’s instinct to check their phone at a stop light, thinking it is safe to do so, Iowa law says you have to be off the roadway and at a complete stop to do so.

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