By Ryan Morden
Oswego, NY – Syracuse is one of two cities in the nation piloting a new program to help crack down on drivers who talk or text on their cell phones.
This new program is called "Phone in One Hand. Ticket In the Other."
In New York, an officer can pull you over and write you up for talking on your phone while driving.
As for texting, that's a secondary offense. This means an officer has to find a reason to pull you over and then can tack on the texting violations.
$200 thousand for the pilot program is coming from the federal government; another $100 thousand comes from the state.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was in Syracuse Thursday, April 8th to make the announcement.
"We know with good enforcement we can get this problem under control the way we did with seatbelts and the way we did with drunk driving," said LaHood.
According to LaHood, Syracuse was chosen to pilot the program because the city, county, and state law enforcement agencies cooperate well with each other.
Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler said he would use the money for various patrols, routine traffic stops and check points.