Cell Phone Use While Driving Blamed For 3 Holiday Weekend Accidents
AURORA, Ill. (CBS) -- Several accidents over the holiday weekend are being taken as more evidence of the dangers of using a cell phone while driving.
As WBBM Newsradio's Regine Schlesinger reports, over the weekend, at least three Chicago area accidents are blamed on drivers fiddling with their phones.
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The Aurora Beacon-News reports at 10:33 p.m. Monday, a woman who was texting while driving on Lincoln Avenue near Simms Street in Aurora dropped her phone, and slammed into a tree as she kept driving while trying to pick it up.
The woman, Mariza Lechuga, was ticketed for having no insurance, the newspaper reported.
That same day at 10:10 a.m., another driver in Aurora also got into an accident while he was trying to fetch his dropped cell phone at Long Meadow Drive and Route 34. The driver, Maurice Ballard, ended up smashing into two parked cars and overturning his own.
Ballard received tickets for improper lane use and driving on a suspended license, police said.
And at 6:56 p.m. Sunday, the DeKalb County Sheriff's office says Jeffery Linneman, 21, of from Maple Park told them he was trying to plug in his cell phone when he went into a ditch near East County Liner and Barber Geren roads.
Linneman was ticketed for failure to reduce speed and not having insurance.
The Aurora Beacon-News contributed to this report, via the Sun-Times Media Wire.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
