The Undersecretary of Transportation, Cristóbal Pineda, referred to the early days of the No Chat law, which has been in force since March 14 and which penalizes driving while looking at a cell phone as very serious conduct.
in conversation with The Counter at La Clave, the authority said that the law “is a signal that is given to citizens that driving with these conditions of chatting and taking the cell phone or being distracted behind the wheel, has negative effects on accidents or road accidents. For example If you travel at 50 kilometers per hour and you swerve for five seconds, for example, you are traveling blindly more than 70 meters. We are talking about half a block, so it is extremely dangerous. And the law aims precisely at that, in that sense. It is not so easy to control, but despite that, it can be done. It can be done, for example, between March 14 and April 25 last we had more than 2,500 infractions”. He also added that a Mutual study determined that 33% of citizens are distracted in this way behind the wheel.
“When we implement laws, they not only have to do with enforcement, but also with education. And the implementation of this law allows us to discuss what it means to be distracted behind the wheel with the cell phone and the effects that this has. So, not only when we implement a law It is coupled with a sanction, but it also allows us to do more road education. I believe that the implementation of this law and precisely what we are talking about now allows this road education in a way to have a better coexistence on the streets, “he added.
“Only remember that it is on the inspection side. This law has a fine between 1.5 to 3 UTM, we are talking between $75,000 to $150,000. But it also has the suspension of the driver’s license for a period between 5 to 45 days, so they are very strong sanctions in that sense,” he closed.
