In Pa., DUIs are down and "driving while distracted" is up

In Pennsylvania, the good news is that arrests and citations for driving under the influence continue to decline, from 48,896 in 2015 to 48,222 last year, according to the state police uniform crime report.

Unfortunately, arrests and citations for "driving while distracted," which you could also call driving under the influence of electronic devices, have gone up 52 percent since 2014.

That's the word from the communications office of the Pennsylvania court system and, if the numbers are only a fraction of DUI citations, it's still a problem that's only getting worse.

Pennsylvania has four laws prohibiting various uses of cellphones including using headphone or earphone while driving and texting when driving. Drivers who are cited for violations are subject to a $50 fine and court costs and fees.

Statewide, citations for distracted driving increased from 2,195 in 2014 to 3,099 in 2015 and 3,336 last year. Seventy percent of those cited were male and, not surprisingly, 36 percent were in their 20s and another 27 percent in their 30s.

Among Pennsylvania's 67 counties, three southeastern counties rank among the top five in citations for distracted driving: Montgomery is first with 1,258; Philadelphia is third with 1,126 and Chester is fifth with 694. Allegheny County was second and York County third. Bucks County had 671 drivers cited and Delaware County, 535.