It is rather appropriate that a month long, statewide police crackdown on those using cell phones and texting while driving began on April Fool’s Day for it is hard to imagine a group more foolish and reckless than those who engage in this practice.

In 2014, the National Safety Council reported the use of cellphones causes 26 percent of the nation’s car accidents, the vast majority of them involving drivers distracted while talking on handheld or hands-free cell phones, with only 5 percent occurring because the driver is texting. This is assumed to be because talking is far more common than texting, even though the distractions caused by texting are certainly far greater.

The council cautions, however, that the numbers of cell phone accidents, including those in which a fatality occurs, may be severely underreported because drivers are reluctant to admit they were talking when the accidents happened.

Another National Safety Council study dispels the conventional view that talking on a hands-free cell phone is all that safe. One study even found the cognitive demands of the two methods surprisingly similar.

The Connecticut effort this month is helped by a $2.3 million grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to pay for the additional police power and overtime needed for the operation. Apparently, it is most effective to go after talkers and texters on city and suburban streets, using two officers, working on foot.

According to a Hartford Courant report, departments use one officer , working undercover, to observe drivers talking or texting. This officer relays the information on the suspect’s car to a second officer standing some distance down the road, who blows a whistle to get the driver’s attention and directs him into a parking area. Among those arrested the first day was a Bridgeport mother caught calling her daughter to warn her the police were going after cell phone drivers in her neighborhood.

Tickets for a first offense will cost a driver $150 and increase to $300 for the second and $500 for any subsequent violations. We would suggest an even stiffer penalty, even license suspensions, for those who have apparently learned nothing after two or more arrests.

The practice of texting while driving has been properly likened to drunken driving, the only difference being the texter’s judgment isn’t impaired by alcohol or drugs, just ignorance and arrogance. That’s reason enough to make the penalties for both offenses similar.

We wish this effort great success and note it will have to continue to some degree after the federal grants run out at the end of the month. If drivers only have to worry about texting and cellphone calls during crackdowns, the problem will continue unabated. The federal program is a good start, but law enforcement agencies will have to persist and penalties stiffen to make a serious dent in this foolish and dangerous activity.