Philly Falls Behind Pittsburgh for Texting While Driving

Pittsburgh has topped Philly for a dubious distinction.

Philadelphia is now second to the second largest city in Pennsylvania when it comes to texting and driving.

According to a recent study by AAA Mid-Atlantic, 91 texting-while-driving citations were written in Philly in 2013 – down from 202 the year before. Pittsburgh drivers got 126 tickets in 2013.

AAA said Philly was one of only a few counties to see a large drop in tickets.

The City of Brotherly Love might be trailing the Steel City but when you include Philly’s suburban counties, the Philadelphia five-county area still leads the state with the most violations with 428 -- 125 coming from Montgomery County alone -- a drop of nearly 130 tickets from the year before. The metropolitan Pittsburgh area came in with 232 citations last year.

Analysts hope the drop in ticketing means drivers are getting the message.

“Are Philadelphians putting the phones down more when they drive?  We hope so,” said AAA Mid-Atlantic spokeswoman Jenny Robinson. “Drivers are getting the message: it’s dangerous to text behind the wheel. Enforcement is important as well, but the goal is to change behavior and get people to stop driving distracted -- not just wait until they do it and then see them get a ticket.”

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