it's a safety hazard for our community
unfortunately people have been seriously
injured or killed because someone was
simply trying to just send a text or
read a text
life can change with just one text or
tweet distracted driving continues to be
a problem nationwide it's part of our
San Antonio question in the series KSAT
viewers wanted to know what is being
done locally to combat it for years
after city ordinances against distracted
driving went into effect Janice at 9:00
Stephanie where--this takes a deeper
look and digs through the stats for
years PSAs like this have tried to stop
texting and driving but numbers show it
hasn't stopped in January 2015 the city
of San Antonio took action city
ordinance says that you cannot engage in
a phone call any kind of texting gaming
any kind of activity on your on your
phone and if they catch someone in the
act will make a traffic stop and will
either issue a citation or a warning
citation so you're looking at fines up
to $200 according to an SI PD report as
of last week the number of citations of
use of handheld mobile communication
device since 2015 have fluctuated in
2015 from February 1st to December 31st
there were 10,000 367 citations made
compared to last year from January to
December was ten thousand two hundred
and ninety two as of September 1st 2017
statewide law makes it illegal for all
drivers to read write or send a text and
drive in Texas but how do state and lost
city ordinance work together in certain
situations certain areas of the state of
Texas you are allowed to if you had a
stop sign if your if your vehicle is not
in motion you're allowed to use that
communication device but if the if a
city re has an ordinance in place
prohibiting that then you're violating
the even if it's if it's
the state law so what can you do if you
see someone texting and driving we
highly recommend that people don't take
that situation to their own hands if
they do see someone that's really
causing a hazard on our streets they're
really weaving in and out of traffic
they're almost causing accidents we do
recommend that you go ahead and make
that phone call to us just do it safely
for those that choose to ignore the law
officer green says to remember those
whose lives have changed forever people
again have lost their lives or have been
seriously injured from someone simply
making a phone call while they're
driving or answering their texts now one
other part of the saq was why these
violations don't affect your insurance
you may remember Erika Hernandez
answered this last week the Texas
Department of Insurance told us state
law prohibits and non County mutual
insurers from increasing premiums due to
traffic violations so if your insurance
is from a county mutual they could
increase premiums for such violation and
that's really important to note because
and maybe in other states is different
but here in Texas that's what we found
out and also SAPD also told us they're
really trying to get out this message to
the community they say certain vehicles
that are wrapped with messaging to make
community aware of cell phone ordinance
take a look they also partner up with
Tex Todd and Johnson high school
students as well as in promoting this
they are really proud of the community
effort that they're all doing together
a lot of good information and you and
Ellie did a little digging and you
actually found some apps that we can all
depend on it could kind of help us with
this putting the phone down there so
we're going to tell you about
that's right first up we have life saver
this is a very highly rated do not
disturb app in the Apple App Store it is
only available for iPhone however it's a
big fan among parents they are able to
lock their child's phone once the car is
moving it's also helpful for corporate
and fleet customers it can auto lock at
driving speeds so your employees won't
text and drive that's great okay so that
one's called lifesaver next up ATT's
drive mode you can may recognize their
logo from there it can wait campaign
also allows you to silence incoming text
messages and will automatically text
someone back to let you know that you
are
drive them no you're driving it's
available for both Android and for Apple
I'm some friends who have that one
because everything if I text in my
mediate text back that just says driving
I'll respond late right and this last
app is also one that I think Elly has
right Ellie yeah that's a it's from a
Texas company and it's made by a Texas
A&M grad after a student lost his life
in college in conversation I should say
due to a driver that was texting safe to
save that's what it's called it
encourages people to stay off their
phone while driving for safety reasons
first and foremost but you'll also earn
points every minute you're behind the
wheel and off your phone the points are
redeemable at places like a chick-fil-a
hello which it's called whichwhich and
marble slab there's even like you've
never been to whichwhich ham sandwich
shop Oh cuz which like sandwich hey
looks like shops also you can redeem
your points for a twenty dollar oil
change you can activate the app before
you take off and once you hit ten miles
per hour you begin racking up points now
it can also tell you when you click into
other apps and sends you an alert asking
is it really worth it the app is free to
download
Elliott really likes it and she's
already earned enough points for a
chick-fil-a sandwich but we should tell
you too you have to make sure they're
participating chick-fil-a businesses
exactly so we love this story and again
if you're just tuning in you're like
what was that again first one was
lifesaver the second app was a teen
tease drive mode and the third one that
you were just talking about is called
safe to save Tiffany thank you a lot of
good information