Johnson County has seen over a 1,100% increase in texting while driving citations over the last two years. In 2016 there were just seven citations given out for distracted driving violations. In 2017 that number jumped to 19, then up to 81 in 2018. Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek accredits the jump to recent legislation, “The big change is that [texting while driving] was no longer a secondary offense, meaning you could actually stop people that you see that you believe are texting while driving. In the previous change you had to see them committing another offense. So once it became primary, then it gave us reason to stop them based on our opinion that we thought they were texting and driving.”

Pulkrabek adds that he hopes to see all forms of distracted driving become primary offenses in the future. According to the Iowa Department of Public Safety, drivers who use handheld devices while driving are four times as likely to injure themselves in an accident.