The Ohio State Highway Patrol ticketed nearly 500 drivers during a distracted driving enforcement initiative.

Details are in the following news release from the highway patrol.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol joined forces with other members of the 6-State Trooper Project to focus on distracted driving enforcement. During the project, 491 people were cited with distracted driving related offenses.

The high-visibility enforcement included the Indiana State Police, Kentucky State Police, Michigan Statee, Pennsylvania State Police, West Virginia State Police and the Patrol. The initiative began on Monday, October 5 at 12:01 a.m. and continued through Monday, October 12 at 11:59 p.m.

On October 29, 2018, Ohio passed House Bill 95, a law which broadened what is considered distracted driving, and increased the fine if it was a contributing factor to the commission of the driving violation.

Distracted driving is any non-driving activity with the potential to distract a person from the primary task of driving and increase the risk of crashing. Distractions can be visual, taking eyes off of the road; manual, taking hands off the wheel; or cognitive, taking the mind off driving.

The 6-State Trooper Project is a multi-state law enforcement partnership aimed at providing combined and coordinated law enforcement and security services in the areas of highway safety, criminal patrol and intelligence sharing.