April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month and local community organizations and law enforcement are working to make roads safer by highlighting distracted driving.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that 3,477 people were killed and an estimated 391,000 injured in motor vehicle collisions involving distracted drivers in 2015.

Assembly Bill 1785 went into effect on January 1, requiring all drivers in California to keep their cell phone out of their hands while operating a motor vehicle.

The Office of Traffic Safety will begin a new public awareness campaign throughout the state in April, emphasizing how the new law makes virtually all hand-held cell phone activity.

The Bakersfield Police Department is deploying extra traffic officers in city locations where higher numbers of traffic collisions occur, which is being funded by grants.