The New Hampshire Department of Safety is seeking to spend nearly $500,000 in federal money to raise awareness of distracted driving and increase the number of State Police patrols on highways.

The request, approved by the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee Friday, would tap into a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to combat distracted driving, according to the department.

The money would help to promote “the visibility of law enforcement in New Hampshire roads,” an explanation from the department reads. And it would also help the state fund media campaigns addressing the issue.

In New Hampshire distracted driving was listed as the primary causation of 42 fatal crashes from 2014 to 2020, according to the department’s Office of Highway Safety. In 2021, distracted driving and inattention contributed to 15 percent of total crashes, the department said this year.

But department officials say the actual influence of distracted driving is likely higher than the state’s figures. Often, drivers in crashes are reluctant to admit that they were distracted, and investigators are not always able to discern from the crash scene whether it was a factor, according to the department’s 2021 Highway Safety Plan. New Hampshire law bars police and investigators from getting evidence by seizing drivers’ phones and other electronic devices without a warrant.

“… Non-fatal crash data and distracted driving fatality data may be underreported as there are many crashes that occur on New Hampshire roads with no other reason or explanation for the crash other than the vehicle left on the road,” Department of Safety Commissioner Robert Quinn wrote to the Fiscal Committee.

“Some of those crashes have occurred on a straight road, and on a clear summer day with no explanation of how the crash occurred.”

The funding request moves next to the Executive Council for approval.

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