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Corpus Christi police cracking down on distracted drivers

Sr. Officer Arnold Guerra is a 26-year veteran of law enforcement and said he has seen it all.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Corpus Christi Police Department is cracking down on things like driving while texting, talking on the phone and even taking selfies.

Police said it happens a lot, and now officers and municipal court judges alike are warning drivers to put their phones away or face some serious fines.

"Yeah, it's really bad," CCPD Sr. Officer Arnold Guerra said.

Guerra is a 26-year veteran of law enforcement and said he has seen it all.

"We stop every day for using their phone, texting, driving, updating their social media status," Guerra said. "I mean, I've even given tickets for people doing selfies while they're driving."

3News wanted to get an idea of just how big the issue of distracted driving is in Corpus Christi, so we paid a visit to the judges who handle city traffic violations.

"It's a huge number and we don't really see any difference over the course of the year," Municipal Court Judge David Walsh said.

Walsh and Judge Jackie Delano-Chapa see a significant amount of distracted driving cases on their dockets. In fact, they said last year the violations were consistent.

"The number is in excess of about 250 violations filed -- not warning tickets, filed per month -- for 2018," Walsh said.

Those numbers translate into fines -- lots of them.

"So for the purposes of using a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle, they're looking at a fine of up to $500 plus court costs; and for using the cell phone in a school zone, they are looking at a fine of up to $200 plus court costs," Delano-Chapa said.

The judges said they also see a number of repeat offenders. Because distracted driving is against state law, repeat one too many times and you could end up without a driver's license.

The judges said it all boils down to one thing -- safety.

"Sometimes it's just property damage. Sometimes accidents lead to bodily injury, and we don't want that for our community," Delano-Chapa said. "We don't want that for our citizens."

Another part of the dangers of distracted driving are pedestrians.

"You have so much pedestrian travel nowadays, especially with these new scooters they have on the road, so you have a lot more pedestrian travel, a lot more vehicle travel," Guerra said.

So if you want to avoid a big fine, or worse, put the cellphone down, use a hands-free system, or pull over.

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