Kane County, Illinois Chiefs team up
in focused effort against distracted driving

April 16, 2019       

For immediate release

Illinois State Police Public Information Office
(312) 825-3083
[email protected]

AAA- Charlene Sligting-Yorke
(630) 328-7235
[email protected]

Ed Wojcicki, Executive Director
217.523.3765
[email protected]         

Elgin, IL – On April 26, 2019, the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police (ILACP), AAA, the Illinois State Police, the Kane County Sheriff’s Office, the Kane County Chiefs Association, the Illinois Department of Transportation, the Kane County State’s Attorney's Office, the Kane County Department of Transportation, the Kane County Health Department - Medical Reserve Volunteers and Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) , Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists, the Think First Foundation, Northwestern Medicine - Delmar Hospital,  and Advocate Health Care - Sherman Hospital, along with local community and law enforcement agencies within Kane County, will participate in the Kane County High Visibility Enforcement (HiVE) Campaign to help reduce fatal and injury crashes caused by distracted driving on roadways throughout Kane County.

This will take place as the Illinois Chiefs are also putting extra education and enforcement into Illinois Distracted Driving Awareness Week, planned for the week of April 22.

This ILACP initiative is a data-driven approach aimed at reducing injury collisions in areas with high collision rates.  In 2015, there were 914 fatal traffic crashes in the State of Illinois, with 67.8% of those crashes occurring in 23 of the 101 counties in Illinois; Kane County was identified as one of the 23 counties. In 2016, there were a total of 36 fatal traffic crashes in Kane County which resulted in 39 lives lost. That same year, there were 2,777 injury traffic crashes in Kane County involving 3,973 injured people.

The HiVE program is a partnership with the ILACP Traffic Safety Initiative that places a large number of law enforcement officers in high-collision areas during peak travel times to improve safety. The 2019 Kane County HiVE Campaign will take place on April 26, 2019. 

Distracted driving kills 10 drivers nationwide every day. Contrary to what some drivers may think, hands-free, handheld and in-vehicle technologies are not distraction-free, even if a driver’s eyes are on the road and their hands are on the wheel. The latest AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety research found that:

  • Drivers who text when behind the wheel more than double their odds of being involved in a crash;
  • Drivers who use in-vehicle technologies, like voice-based and touch screen features, can be distracted for more than 40 seconds when completing tasks like programming navigation or sending a text message.
  • Removing eyes from the road for just two seconds doubles the risk for a crash

The aim of the HiVE campaign is to deter drivers, through increased visibility of law enforcement as well as proactive enforcement of laws, from participating in unsafe roadway activities, including Distracted Driving, and to improve driving behavior. 

HiVE is based on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) best practices and proven Countermeasures That Work (NHTSA 9th Edition). Officers will be visible during all aspects of the deployment, flooding the designated areas to gain the attention of traveling motorists, inducing them to drive safely. All deployments are publicized in advance of the HiVE Campaign, so motorists are aware of the elevated police presence and enforcement.  All data will be captured then studied to measure the effectiveness of the program. 

Informing the community of the high-visibility enforcement is a critical component of HiVE.  The goal of the campaign is to combine high-visibility enforcement and proactive law enforcement to create deterrence and change unsafe roadway behavior. The program goal is designed to be educational and to instill trust between the public and law enforcement, so together, we can lower roadway fatalities.

These partnerships have been formed to help further a traffic safety culture in Illinois and to reduce traffic fatalities and injuries resulting from distracted driving.  Please help keep Illinois’ roadways safe and Illinois strong.

Visit www.IDDAW.org for additional information about HiVE.