Of the millions of drivers a day who take North Texas Tollways, there’s an increasing number of them driving distracted.
“I start looking for those drivers that are weaving, leaving their lane, that are starting to drive way too close to the vehicles in front of them,” Sgt. Tony de la Cerda with the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
De La Cerda took NBC 5 for a ride along the tollways to see what exactly is distracting drivers while behind the wheel.
“You don’t only see people on their phones, you see people reading books, you see people eating, you see people reading the newspaper, even though it’s not as common as we think it is,” De La Cerda said.
“I’ve seen ladies put on their makeup as well, usually it involves them with their visor, the mirror on their visor. They have it down. They’re focusing on that mirror, focusing on how they look,” De La Cerda said.
In 2025, there were 221 distracted driving crashes on NTTA toll roads. Five of them were fatal and 47 of them involved injuries.
De La Cerda says the biggest growing culprit for distracted driving is cellphones.
DPS says it recently saw one woman driving for a minute while texting on the Sam Rayburn Tollway.
On Wednesday, DPS made around 100 traffic stops over 10 hours for distracted driving during a concentrated enforcement. While there is no violation for distracted driving in Texas, DPS says the behavior leads to other dangerous violations and potentially deadly crashes.
DPS says the enforcement is ongoing and the initiative includes education in public schools and driving schools on distracted driving.