Distracted Driving PSA for “cagers” via Reddit

via Reddit

You thought texting while driving was bad? How about running a suite of machines like an office while on the move?  Here is one such case where it blows everything we preach about driver distraction.  Police stopped this above Ford Modeo in Saarland, Germany, for speeding and when they peeped in this is what they saw in the passenger seat – a laptop with docking station, a router and wi-fi antenna tied to a cellular data stick, a printer and a power inverter to keep it all humming.  For what it is worth, the German police  did not issue any citations for the Mondeo driver for any violations . Maybe because he had  his cellphone mounted to the windshield for hands-free use.  yes. That’s right.  He  at least had the sense to leave his cellphone mounted on the dashboard.  (via Motoramic – Yahoo! Autos)

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(via Mashable)

This awesome infograph below from Mashable.com illustrates the dangers associated with the texting while driving .. To think about nearly ~1.3 million crashes that happened in 2011 had a cellphone involved makes me shudder..

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• Texting and Driving: A Crash Course [INFOGRAPHIC](mashable.com)

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The USDOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently published these two documents (Dec 2011) and I thought some of you might find it useful.

NHTSA – National Dist. Driving Telephone Survey – Tt407

NHTSA – Driver Electronic Device Use in 2010 – 811517

(Source: Engadget)

This new documentary, produced by AT&T, one of the leading telecom services provider in the US, strings together a set of  stories told by accident victims and their  families and friends.  The documentary, at times high on the emotional quotient, offers a compelling message to any/all drivers, let alone the teenagers, to hang up their cellphones while operating the motor vehicles.  There is no blood or gory mess splashed across the windshield but the stories along with the photos of mangled metal and shattered lives is quite riveting.  Kudos to AT&T and other public and private agencies who have been actively engaged in promoting awareness among teens about the dangers of texting while driving.

Related articles

• AT&T releases dramatic anti-texting while driving documentary (engadget.com)
• AT&T Releases anti text-driving documentary (techburgh.com)
• AT&T Mini Documentary on Dangers of Text Messaging and Driving (laughingsquid.com)

(Source: USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood’s Fastlane Blog)

After looking at this picture, I’m sure you will never drive while talking on the cell phone.

Image Courtesy: Eva Levine via Sec. Ray LaHood's Fastlane Blog

Sec. Ray LaHood’s blog post offers some details behind this horrific mangled mess of metal:

• A garage New Canaan, Connecticut has put this mangled vehicle on display along with a “No-Cell-Phones” sign . This one was destroyed in a crash that may have been caused–not by drunk driving, but by a distracted driver.
• The red VW Jetta, now barely recognizable, was being driven by a 19-year-old woman. When she entered Interstate 95, she struck another vehicle, causing her car to spin out and hit the median, where it was hit by a tractor trailer. The young driver was killed in the accident.
• The deceased driver’s family gave written approval for the Garage owner  to put it on a highly visible corner of his property with hopes of deterring at least a few “distracted drivers.”

What a powerful message, in deed.

Image Courtesy: Eva Levine via Sec. Ray LaHood's Fastlane Blog

Click here to read more.

Related articles

• Distracted: 1 in 6 Road Deaths Tied to Texting (abcnews.go.com)
• US official wants ‘distracted driving’ label on cell phones (alternet.org)
• U.S. Transportation Sec. Hates Facebook, Twitter [Emissions] (jalopnik.com)
• UPS Supports LaHood’s Effort to Stop Distracted Driving (eon.businesswire.com)
• “Focusing On Distracted Driving” and related posts (transportation.nationaljournal.com)
• No Surprise: Distracted Driving Up Significantly Since 2005 (ridelust.com)
• Distracted driving deaths declining in the U.S. (ctv.ca)
• LaHood releases 2009 distracted driving crash figures ahead of summit (autoblog.com)
• Report: LaHood mulling nationwide ban on all in-car mobile phone use? (autoblog.com)

(Source: AP via Yahoo News )

The number of people dying on the nation’s roads has fallen to its lowest level in six decades, helped by a combination of seat belts, safer cars and tougher enforcement of drunken driving laws.

The Transportation Department said late Wednesday that traffic deaths fell 9.7 percent in 2009 to 33,808, the lowest number since 1950. In 2008, an estimated 37,423 people died on the highways.

Forty-one states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico saw reductions in highway fatalities, led by Florida with 422 fewer deaths and Texas, down 405.

The motor vehicle fatality rate — the number of deaths per 100 million miles traveled — is the lowest ever: 1.13 deaths in 2009, down from 1.26 in 2008, DOT says, even as Americans were driving 0.2% more than in 2008.

The annual highway safety report also reported the following stats:

• _ Motorcycle fatalities broke 11 years of annual increases, falling by 16 percent, from 5,312 in 2008 to 4,462 in 2009.
• _ The number of people injured in motor vehicle crashes fell for a 10th consecutive year.
• _ Alcohol-impaired driving deaths declined 7.4 percent in 2009 to 10,839 deaths, compared with 11,711 in 2008.

Note:  I commend the efforts of the USDOT’s leadership (Secretary, the Administrators, staff, etc) in ensuring that our nation’s roads are safe for the citizens.   The multi-pronged approach taken by various administrations within the Department, including targeted campaigns towards drunk driving, texting while driving, etc., are paying big dividends, as evidenced by these dramatic reduction in fatalities.  Also, we have to recognize the efforts of the vehicle manufacturers for making their vehicles a lot safer than what they were in the decades before. Many vehicles in today’s market sport great active and passive systems compared to the cars of yesteryears, which help greatly in reducing the risk of fatal injuries to the occupants during an accident.  The role of local enforcement agencies should also be appreciated in this remarkable effort.  Apart from the obvious safety benefits, there are many other associated benefits at the societal and personal level – reduction in associated costs such as repair costs, travel time savings, insurance costs, etc.  In all, as a society we are progressing well but we still have a long way to go.  Let’s not forget that we are still losing thousands of people on our roads and that only means one thing – we cannot slow down our efforts!

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(Source: Mashable; Washington Post; Pew Research Center)

Image Courtesy: Pew Research Center

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has just published the results of a study on distracted driving behavior amongst teenagers which shows that teens are aware of the dangers of texting while driving, but they choose to do it anyway.

After surveying 800 teens in 4 US cities over the summer of 2009, Pew estimates that 26% of all American teens 16-17 have texted while driving, and 43% have talked on a cell phone while driving.

Even more alarming is that 48% of teens 12-17 have witnessed someone else texting while driving, which points to an ambivalence and acceptance of the practice. The findings also indicate that even state laws prohibiting these activities may not be discouraging newly licensed drivers from using their mobile devices while behind the wheel.

Here are the major findings from the survey and focus groups (courtesy of Pew Research Center):

• 75% of all American teens ages 12-17 own a cell phone, and 66% use their phones to send or receive text messages.
• Older teens are more likely than younger teens to have cell phones and use text messaging; 82% of teens ages 16-17 have a cell phone and 76% of that cohort are cell phone texters.
• One in three (34%) texting teens ages 16-17 say they have texted while driving. That translates into 26% of all American teens ages 16-17.
• Half (52%) of cell-owning teens ages 16-17 say they have talked on a cell phone while driving. That translates into 43% of all American teens ages 16-17.
• 48% of all teens ages 12-17 say they have been in a car when the driver was texting.
• 40% say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put themselves or others in danger.

The NHTSA said that 5,870 people died and an estimated 515,000 were injured last year in accidents that police attributed to distracted driving.

That number of fatalities last year was exactly half the number of people who died as a result of drunken driving. The actual number of distracted-driving deaths and injuries is probably much higher than the numbers show. There is nothing like the blood alcohol test to prove that someone was texting — phone records are not clear-cut proof and drivers who cause accidents are no more prone to admit they were texting than they are to say they are drunk.

At a conference he convened to discuss distracted driving, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood stressed the importance of parents paying attention to the road to provide a positive example for their children.

The Pew research found that too few do.

“The frequency of teens reporting parent cellphone use behind the wheel in our focus groups was striking, and suggested, in many cases, that texting while driving is a family affair,” the report said.

Click here to read the entire research report in HTML.   Or you can alternatively download/read the report in the PDF format shown below.

(Source: New York Times)

Image Courtesy: American Van via Google Images

Crisscrossing the country, hundreds of thousands of long-haultruckers use computers in their cabs to get directions and stay in close contact with dispatchers, saving precious minutes that might otherwise be spent at the side of the road.

The trucking industry says these devices can be used safely, posing less of a distraction than BlackBerrys, iPhones and similar gadgets, and therefore should be exempted from legislation that would ban texting while driving.

“We think that’s overkill,” Clayton Boyce, spokesman for the American Trucking Associations, said of a federal bill that would force states to ban texting while driving if they want to keep receiving federal highway money.

The legislation will be discussed at a conference on distracted driving in Washington, starting Wednesday, organized by the Transportation Department.

The issues raised by truckers show the challenges facing advocates for tougher distracted-driving laws, given that so many Americans have grown accustomed to talking and texting behind the wheel.

The trucking industry has invested heavily in technology to wire vehicles. Satellite systems mounted on trucks let companies track drivers, send new orders, distribute companywide messages and transmit training exercises. Drivers can also use them to send and receive e-mail and browse the Internet.

After videotaping truckers behind the wheel, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that those who used on-board computers faced a 10 times greater risk of crashing, nearly crashing or wandering from their lane than truckers who did not use those devices.

That figure is lower than the 23 times greater risk when truckers texted, compared with drivers simply focused on the road, according to the same study. However, the Virginia researchers said that truckers tend to use on-board computers more often than they text.

The study found that truckers using on-board computers take their eyes off the road for an average of four seconds, enough time at highway speeds to cover roughly the length of a football field.

Richard J. Hanowski, director of the Center for Truck and Bus Safety at the Virginia institute, said videotape monitoring of 200 truckers driving about three million miles showed many of them using the devices, even bypassing messages on the screen warning them not to use the devices while driving.

In recent years, fatalities caused by large trucks have risen slowly, despite many safety advances like air bags and antilock brakes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In 2007, large trucks caused 4,808 deaths — or 12 percent of all driving-related fatalities — up from 4,777, or 11 percent, in 1997.

Beyond the dispatch computers, truckers said they relied heavily on an array of technologies to stay productive, entertained and connected on the road. Their cabs become like home offices, wired with CB radios, AM/FM and satellite radios, weather band radios, GPS devices, electrical outlets, laptops and even computer desks. And, of course, cellphones.

Click here to read the entire article.  Also, while you are on the NY Times page, don’t forget to try the awesome interactive graphic (which can be found embedded on the left hand panel of this NY Times article) to gauge  your distraction.  It does that by measuring how your reaction time is affected by external distractions in a nice little game.

Note:  Another New York Times article on this issue of driver distraction notes that the general public overwhelmingly supports the prohibition of text messagingwhile driving, the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll finds. Ninety percent of adults say sending a text message while driving should be illegal, and only 8 percent disagree.   More than 80 percent of every demographic group say sending text messages while driving should be illegal, but some are more adamant about such a prohibition than others. Parents, whether or not their children are adults, are more inclined to support a ban than people without children. Women are more in favor of outlawing the practice than men.  Click here to read more details on this interesting poll.

(Sources: Reuters & The Detroit News)

Major automakers today endorsed a ban on texting and using hand-held mobile phones while driving, ahead of a Transportation Department summit next week on distracted driving.

“Clearly, using a hand-held device to text or call while driving is a safety risk,” said Dave McCurdy, president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. “The alliance supports a ban on hand-held texting and calling while driving to accelerate the transition to more advanced, safer ways to manage many common potential distractions.”The alliance represents 11 automakers, including Detroit’s Three automakers, Toyota Motor Corp., Daimler AG and BMW AG.

McCurdy said using a mobile phone without a hands-free device or scrolling through a cellular phone’s list of phone numbers may put drivers at risk.

But the industry strongly supports allowing hands-free devices to make calls. Some states ban the use of cell phones by drivers without using a hands-free device. “You have to minimize the eyes off the road time. That’s critical,” McCurdy said.

This announcement is a boost for the Obama administration’s efforts to curb this growing problem.  Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood plans to hold a summit next week on distracted driving and address the issue of texting.

“If it were up to me, I would ban drivers from texting,” LaHood said in August. “But we’ve learned from our efforts to get people to wear seat belts and to persuade them not to drive drunk that laws aren’t always enough. Often, you need to combine education with enforcement to get results.”

The wireless industry — including cellphone manufacturers, carriers, and some Internet companies represented by the CTIA-Wireless Association — also believes texting “is incompatible with safe driving.”

The trade group supports state and local efforts to ban texting and driving as well as public education and aggressive enforcement.

There were more than 1 trillion text messages sent and received on wireless devices last year, including cell phones and smart phones, the association said. There are no statistics on how many people drive and text, the group said.  A Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study released in July said drivers of heavy vehicles using a hand-held text messaging system had 23.2 times as high a risk of a crash than drivers who weren’t.

The National Safety Council, a research group, is pushing for a full ban on cell phone use and texting while driving.

About a dozen U.S. states have passed laws banning texting while driving. A handful have made cellphone use illegal while behind the wheel, a practice that automakers do not oppose in all circumstances.

Legislation proposed by Sen. Charles Schumer of New York would withhold 25 percent of federal highway money from states that do not ban texting while driving and the provision is similar to one that enticed states to adopt a 0.08 percent blood alcohol level limit for drunken driving.  A text-while-driving ban has also been proposed in the House of Representatives.

Click here or here to get more details on this story.