Federal Summit Eyes Crackdown On Texting While Driving

suraj.sun sends along this quote from an Associated Press report: "Opening a government meeting on auto safety, the Obama administration reported Wednesday that nearly 6,000 people were killed and a half-million injured last year in vehicle crashes connected to driver distraction, a striking indication of the dangers of using mobile devices behind the wheel. The Transportation Department was bringing together experts over two days for what it's calling a 'distracted driving summit' to take a hard look at the highway hazards caused by drivers talking on cell phones or texting from behind the wheel. ... Driver distraction was involved in 16 percent of all fatal crashes in 2008. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have passed laws making texting while driving illegal and seven states and the district have banned driving while talking on a handheld cell phone, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Many safety groups have urged a nationwide ban on texting and on using handheld mobile devices while behind the wheel."

Comments

Why do the states text then?

[hemp]

At least 22 states currently text traffic conditions, emergencies, etc to motorist.

Good.

[SCHecklerX]

This guy was coming right at me, crossing 2 lanes of traffic one night. Driver behind him reported that he was looking down and fumbling with a device while driving (likely texting):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28154298@N05/sets/72157605928214101/detail/

He never slowed down after hitting the bank on the opposite side of the road, and nailed the house at around 50mph.

Re:Its just stupid

[pixelpusher220]

as you say 'Distracted Driving' is the actual 'crime' here. And most states already have laws against it on the books already.

This is just marketing hype by politicians to look good doing absolutely nothing useful.

The big gripe I have is comparing texting while driving to drunk driving. They simply are not remotely the same. After a horn honking at them the texter is going to be alert and aware of what's going on around them.


Perhaps texting while driving is actually worse since the effects can be mitigated in an instant, whereas the drunk is on going and can't solve the issue for hours. So a few moments of inattention from texting cause the same results as a drunk's constant impairment.

And even if it is worse, it's a only a training issue. Police cars today have full laptops they use while driving, not to mention cell phones and blackberries and yet we don't see the police having extraordinary accident rates do we? Why? because they are trained for the situation and the tools. Give people proper training and you'll see accident rates of *all* types go way way down.

An example:
I got pulled over a few years ago in VA for flashing my high beams at a slowpoke in the left lane. The ticket? Improper use of high beams. If flashing them is improper, why the hell is it a ready made 'feature' in every car today? Oh and it was daytime, so no way my beams were brighter than the sunlight.

Was I driving perhaps a tad aggressively? yeah I'll admit to that, but if he hadn't been going 55 in the left lane in a 65 zone with a bunch of backed up traffic waiting on him...

Discussing all this with the officer blew my mind:

Me: Doesn't he have to yield to my visual or audible signal?
Officer: I'm not aware of any such law? (upon looking it up, the VA law is audible signal only hence my ticket)
Me: But he's going to slow in the left lane? I can't pass him on the right, that's a dangerous procedure isn't it?
Officer: You can pass him on the right no problem.
Me: Seriously? When did that change?

Think about it. Apparently much of what I learned in driver's ed is no longer the law. Keep right except to pass - gone! Yield to overtaking traffic - gone! Passing on the right illegal - gone!

What's next? If we don't properly train people, we get the anarchy on the roads we see...