Trooper in a Truck, a joint effort between the Illinois Trucking Association and Illinois State Police, helped officers curb distracted driving in the state in early July, reports KWQC.

Designed to assist police catch drivers violating the Illinois hands-free law, state troopers were perched high up in semis to get a better view of motorists manipulating cell phones and other devices.

The troopers communicated with officers up ahead stationed in squad cars. Those officers then pulled over the drivers to issue citations, notes the report.

During a single day in early July thanks to one semi truck outfitted with troopers, officers wrote six texting and driving citations, three hand-held phone citations and five motor carrier inspections, reports Our QuadCities.com.

The president of Newman Carriers donated his semi-truck along with the fuel for the special initiative, according to reports.

The Illinois hands-free law brings with it a penalty of $164 for a first offense and counts as a moving violation against a motorist's driver’s license and possibly his or her insurance company.

Distracted driving accounted for 3,166 lost lives in 2017 alone, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association. The National Safety Council has stated that distracted driving has surpassed drunk driving in terms of the number of fatalities associated with the behavior.