Stonington — Town police will participate in a "U Drive. U Text. U Pay." initiative, which will begin on Monday and carry through to Aug. 16.

The campaign partially is funded through a grant from the state Department of Transportation's Highway Safety Office and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The statewide initiative includes additional Stonington patrols, which will focus on drivers who text, talk or otherwise distract themselves from driving through hand-held mobile phones.

Police are reminding residents not to use hand-held mobile phones or any devices that will distract them from the task of driving.

The state's last "U Drive. U Text. U Pay." initiative in April resulted in nearly 16,000 citations. That represents four times more citations than any other month over the last three years when a special enforcement campaign did not occur. 

According to surveys conducted before and after the April program, there was an 8 percent drop in cellphone use at observation locations throughout municipalities in the state where police conducted enforcement.

The DOT announced in April that recent research found an estimated 11.1 million occurrences of distracted driving happen each day throughout the state.

"When you consider how long sending or reading a text takes, the amount of time a driver's eyes are off the road and how many people are engaging in this activity at any given time; it adds perspective to how many crashes happen and lives get impacted by this behavior," Stonington Police Sgt. Keith Beebe stated in a news release.

Under the state's cellphone and texting law, violations involve heavy fines ranging from $150 for a first offense and $300 for a second violation to $500 for each subsequent violation.