Lake County cops want you to quit texting and driving

At least 11 Lake County law-enforcement agencies are participating in a campaign aimed at combating illegal texting and driving.

Using a Twitter hashtag in the #DropItAndDrive campaign, the effort was announced Tuesday outside a Lake County circuit court branch in Mundelein. Patrol officers will be on a heightened lookout for texting and driving as part of the initiative that runs through Labor Day, Sept. 5.

Dr. Aaron Epstein, medical director of Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest's emergency department and the hospital group's outpatient center in Grayslake, said texting and driving is a preventable, dangerous habit that can kill others.

"Now, it gets personal," Epstein said, "because you're affecting not just yourself, but everybody on the road. And unfortunately, I've seen innocent victims, and young people and old people alike, injured, which is a horrible, horrible thing, and lives changed like that."

Lake County Undersheriff Raymond J. Rose said patrol officers will look for vehicles drifting on the road -- a sign of texting and driving. He said the telltale sign for texting is similar to driving under the influence.

"The other thing is people will have the phone in their lap and they're looking down," Rose said after Tuesday's news conference. "And when you look at that 10 seconds that you're distracted, that is enough to create that environment for a fatal crash and the loss of life."

Officials said teenagers are most likely to text and drive, so parents should set a good example and not do it. They cited statistics from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety showing six of 10 teen crashes involve driver distraction.

Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran said the increased effort at trying to stem the illegal texting and driving will include his agency and police in Lake Zurich, Libertyville, Round Lake, Wauconda, Round Lake Beach, Deerfield, Kildeer, Antioch, Lindenhurst and Highland Park. Curran said fees and court costs mean a texting-and-driving conviction can cost up to $300.

Rose said texting or talking on a hand-held mobile device accounted for 1,150 of about 9,000 traffic tickets issued by deputies in unincorporated Lake County in 2015.

Lake County Circuit Court Clerk Keith Brin, who also spoke at Tuesday's announcement, will provide a tally of citations issued for improper mobile device usage when the initiative ends.

The sheriff's office plans to promote the #DropItAndDrive effort on social media, such as Twitter, and at the Lake County Fair. which starts Wednesday.