Crews with the Ozaukee County Sheriff's Office, Wisconsin State Patrol and Mequon Police Department will be conducting special traffic enforcement Friday, targeting distracted drivers.
One in five crashes involve distracted driving, according to the Ozaukee County Sheriff's Office. For that reason, drivers who are texting or displaying other unsafe techniques behind the wheel are the target of this latest initiative. Lieutenant Justin Kaas said when it comes to distracted driving, he has seen it all.
"Things as strange as putting makeup on in the morning or eating cereal out of a bowl while driving, the type of stuff where they have to take their eyes off the road. They are a danger to themselves and others," said Kaas.
Distractions like texting typically require drivers to take their eyes off the road for five seconds. If a driver is traveling 55 miles per hour and gets distracted for five seconds, that's an entire football field's length of travel without paying attention.
"If someone slams on the breaks and you're looking at your phone, you're not going to have enough time to react," said Kaas.
The goal from this enforcement is to make the roadways safer for everyone.
"If we can curb any of this distracted driving behavior, we are hoping to save lives ," said Kaas.
There were 24,089 distracted driving crashes in Wisconsin in 2015. That's the equivalent to a distracted driving crash every 22 minutes in the state.
