When the National Transportation Safety Board reported in December that distracted driving was causing more traffic fatalities that driving under the influence of alcohol, many state legislators went to work drafting legislation designed to inhibit the use of handheld devices or ban them entirely. But not everyone is convinced that handheld devices pose the same [...]
Post Tagged with: "distracted driving"
California Ups The Ante For Distracted Drivers
When it comes to distracted driving, California legislators want to send a message loud and clear: If you do it, you will pay. The California State Senate approved a measure which would ultimately raise the fine for anyone caught using their cell phone while behind the wheel. Senate Bill 1310 increases the fines for breaking [...]
Federal Distracted Driving Law On The Horizon
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he supports and encourages a federal ban on texting and driving and the use of any handheld device while driving. LaHood made the comments during a speech at a distracted-driving summit in San Antonio, Texas, this week. He called distracted driving in the U.S. an “epidemic” and said a [...]
NSC Warns Employers That Employee Crashes Can Cost Them
The National Safety Council is focusing its efforts on reminding employers that they are often held liable when employees are involved in vehicle crashes while on duty, especially if they are on the phone with their boss at the time. A new white paper released by the NSC, “Employer Liability and the Case for Comprehensive [...]
‘Glee’ Takes Distracted Driving Warning To Teens
Teens comprise the demographic group most at risk of the dangers from distracted driving. Because just about every teenager has a cell phone, and just about every teenager uses texting as their primary means of communication, coupled with the fact many teenagers are new drivers, they are most likely to have a vehicle crash caused [...]
Distracted Driving Awareness Month
Distracted driving has become a hot button issue across the United States, as municipalities, legislators and police grapple with the surge in the number of people suing handheld devices for navigation, communication and surfing the web. The ubiquitous nature of these electronic devices means just about everyone who is driving has some type of handheld [...]
GPS Threatened By NHTSA
The new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration guidelines for fighting distracted driving would essentially make in-car GPS systems unusable because they would be considered a driving distraction. The NHTSA has been working in conjunction with automobile manufacturers to limit the ability of drivers to access in-car electronics such as navigation systems, access to the Internet [...]
Study Shows Handheld Devices Ban Saves Lives
Four years ago California lawmakers enacted a sweeping ban on the use of handheld devices by anyone driving a vehicle. This week researchers at UC Berkely released a study which shows that the number of traffic crashes caused by drivers using these devices has declined, something which researchers say is a direct result of the [...]
Studies Show Men Text And Drive More Than Women
With females comprising more than half of all registered drivers in Connecticut, you would be forgiven for thinking they receive the majority of traffic citations for texting while driving. But you would be wrong. A recent study shows that while men comprise less than half of all registered drivers in the state, they also represent [...]
Distracted Driving A Global Problem
You would be forgiven for believing that distracted driving is primarily a problem only in the United States. After all, a recent report by the National Transportation Safety Board seemed to indicate that U.S. drivers were most likely to drive distracted by their handheld devices. But handheld devices, cell phones, text messaging systems and other [...]
Insurance Rates Go Up Because Of Texting
As if causing an accident and hurting yourself or someone else isn’t enough of a reason to stop texting and driving, you can now add increased insurance rates to the mix. That’s right, insurance companies are reporting that rates have been going up primarily because of the increase in vehicle crashes caused by distracted driving. [...]