Zero Tolerance for Distracted Driving

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Pediatric emergency physician Dr. Charles Nozicka in the Trauma Center at Advocate Condell Medical Center has treated many victims in car crashes as a result from distracted drivers.

He calls it heartbreaking to see the devastating results, especially with teens and children. Summer now poses an even deeper threat to all drivers from the roads being so crowded.

“As an emergency physician and father of four, the issue of distracted driving has been a key component of my professional and parenting practice,” said Nozicka. “Life does not supply our teen drivers with a ‘reset button.’ Studies have shown that distracted driving is as dangerous as driving while intoxicated.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation says 5,474 people were killed on U.S. roadways in 2009, and about 448,000 were injured from distracted driving.

The DOT also states that the main proportion of distracted drivers was those under age 20. Apparently, 16 percent of all drivers who were younger than age 20 were involved in fatal crashes and have been distracted while driving.

The agency states that there are three main types of driving distractions, in which you first take your eyes off the road, then your hands, and then your mind. Texting combines all three making it a dangerous thing to do.

“We must adopt a no tolerance attitude on this issue,” said Nozicka “We have to pay attention to the task at hand. Put the cell phone down. Stop texting and driving. One accident can change a life forever.”

Nozicka says that a statewide campaign is beginning which will raise awareness of the dangers of distracted driving.

“I urge all drivers and parents of drivers to visit the site to learn they can help raise awareness,” Nozicka said.

Smartphones Tied to a Quarter of All Car Crashes

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Cell phones and smart phones are continuing to threaten American drivers each day as motorists continue to text and talk on the phone. The Governors Highway Safety Association conducted a study overlooking 350 scientific documents on the subject and came to the conclusion that drivers are distracted while driving up to half of the time on the road.

While driving and using a cell phone raises risks and dangers of causing accidents, texting and driving is proven to be even riskier than making a phone call while driving. The GHSA has estimated that 15 to 25 percent of all crashes involving fatalities are from driving distractions.

“Despite all that has been written about driver distraction, there is still a lot that we do not know,” said GHSA executive director Barbara Harsh. “Clearly, more studies need to be done addressing both the scope of the problem and how to effectively address it.”

The GHSA would like to see every state improve all efforts to curb distracted driving, recommending that all states ban texting and driving and cell phone use from novice drivers entirely. It also says states should do a more effective job in enforcing laws already out.

Enforcement of Texting While Driving Ban

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Lawmakers are now questioning all enforcement after New York’s new texting-while-driving ban.

Consequences could be fatal if police officials don’t take action soon, as there are so many distracted drivers currently on the road each day. 50 percent of individuals driving are distracted on the roads. Lawmakers responded a couple of years back by banning texting while driving, but making it a secondary offense rather than a primary offense. Primary offenses allow police to pull over individuals with probable cause. Secondary offenses allow police to only ticket individuals for the offense as long as they’ve been pulled over first for another reason, like speeding.

A review of traffic tickets from the Journal’s Albany bureau shows that those who were ticketed for texting and driving while already being pulled over were only a fraction of the number in comparison to those who were talking on a cell phone without the use of a hands-free device, which is currently a primary offense. The Albany bureau found nearly 332,000 tickets being issued statewide in 2010 for cell phone usage behind the wheel of a car. 3,200 tickets were issued for texting while driving in the first year the law took place.

The new law now states that texting while driving is now considered a primary offense and the fine is now set at $150 and the state will now require a distracted-driving curriculum for those seeking their driver’s license.

A Federal Highway Administration study now shows that drivers who were texting while driving were 23 times more likely to get in a car accident. It also says each year thousands of people are killed in car crashes caused from distracted driving. Young drivers under the age of 20 are at the highest risk for distracted drivers being involved in fatal crashes.

The Banning of Cell Phones

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A new Nevada law now bans talking and texting on cell phones while driving with the exception of the use of a hands-free device. However, a new study now shows that banning the use of cell phones in car does not decrease the number of car accidents. Mackenzie Warren from News 4 went deep into research and discovered that cell phone usage is not the main reason behind distracted driving, adding that no evidence has proved a hands-free device to be any less risky than a hand-held device behind the wheel. The study, conducted by the Governors Highway Safety Association, does not say that texting or talking on the phone while driving is safe, however it does say no real evidence has proved cell phone bans have cut down the number of car crashes.

The study used long-term data from all the nine states which currently do have a ban on cell phone usage behind the wheel, in which Nevada has just been added to the list. However the study also contradicts itself by saying drivers are distracted about 50 percent of the time on the road, yet people can learn to adapt to actually pay closer attention while driving and talking on the phone.

It also goes into how many drivers focus more while being at a risk, such as passing a construction zone.

“It’s popular to do. It looks like you’re doing something, but in today’s driving market there are a multitude of distractions of with phones are only one,” explains TMCC political scientist Fred Lokken. Lokken says it is still common for lawmakers to take action despite any data that may appear. He added the law passed Nevada’s legislature without much controversy.

Lokken also says the Governors Highway Safety Association is a great source for any information, along with another group called the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety which revealed interesting information. “In each of the states that have imposed texting and hands-free requirements for cars, the [IIHS] literally found an uptick in accident rates-not a downtick.”

Lokken believes this is because drivers now try to hide using their cell phone usage, rather than keeping their phones in front while they can still see the road. “They were doing it up here and still had some sense of the field of vision, they’re now trying to do it down here where they’ve broken the plane of what’s going on which is what increases the accidents,” he says.

Cell Phone Citations are Higher for 2011

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The Cheyenne Police Department has given out 321 citations for the use of cell phones while driving for the first half of the year in the city, meaning the department is now expecting a higher number of citations this year. Last year a total of 481 citations were cited all together.

Department spokesman Sgt. Rob Dafoe says the increase is particularly in part due to special details which have targeted the problem.

“We had a special mobilization, among others, from May to June targeting cell phone use, and we had 63 citations from that effort alone,” he said.

“Talking with some of the officers, it’s like fishing in a tank out there. There are so many people doing it – and honestly most of them have ‘2’ county license plates. They know about the law and are just choosing to ignore it.”

Laramie County license plates begin with the number “2”.

Dafoe states that this and last year’s citations consisted mostly of tickets for talking on cell phones while driving with no hands-free device, and only a small percentage is due from texting.

The city currently has a fine of $125 for talking or texting while driving, and is a primary offense which means officers have the right to pull over anyone who is suspected of cell phone usage behind the wheel.

As of last year, the state now includes a $75 fine for texting while driving which is also considered a primary offense.

Councilman Don Pierson is a former police chief of Cheyenne who voted against the bill when it passed, agreeing that texting should be considered a primary offense due to the attention it takes from drivers on the road, but says talking on the phone should be a secondary offense, meaning officers only have the right to cite someone if they’ve already been pulled over for another offense.

Pierson also add that even though the ban began two years ago, he still has yet to see a study proving the number of reduced accidents in the city limits.

“We were supposed to get that report a year after it went into effect, and I still haven’t seen that,” he said. “If I had to guess, I would say that it hasn’t had a major impact on accident rates. There are a lot of things that distract drivers, and that ordinance really only tackles one thing.”
Council President Mark Rinne says he too would like to see a study along the same lines.

“It would be interesting to see that kind of data, if there is any like it,” he said. “I still see a lot of people ignoring it while I’m driving around.”

New Law Enforcment Reduces Distracted Driving

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Ray LaHood, Secretary for the Department of Transportation, says new strong laws and “highly visible” police enforcement have cut down texting and talking on cell phones while driving by a miraculous number in two cities.

New projects which have been federally funded have measured the increased effects of new law enforcement and public education seminars and campaigns in Syracuse, New York, and Hartford, Connecticut.

“These findings show that strong laws, combined with highly visible police enforcement, can significantly reduce dangerous texting and cellphone use behind the wheel,” says LaHood in a statement. “Based on these results, it is crystal clear that those who try to minimize this dangerous behavior are making a serious error in judgment, especially when half a million people are injured and thousands more are killed in distracted driving accidents.”

Each pilot program conducted in both the states was supported by $200,000 in federal funds and $100,000 in state funds. The state labeled the pilot programs as “Phone in One Hand, Ticket in the Other,” which was the main media campaign theme based off the successful national seat belt campaign, “Click it or Ticket”.

Syracuse police have issued precisely 9,587 citations during four periods over the past year for drivers talking or texting on their cellphones while driving. Hartford issued 9,658 tickets during the same period for illegal phone use.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration observed the usage of cellphones while driving before and after the new law enforcement crackdown in the two cities which alsooffered public awareness surveys at local DMV’s.

The department stated that both talking on cellphones and texting on cellphones behind an operating vehicle in Syracuse had decline by a third.

Hartford produced even more dramatic results showing a drop of 57 percent, nearly three-quarters, in the usage of talking and texting on cellphones while driving.

The department now says that NHTSA plans to test the same three-part formula, consisting of tough laws, strong enforcement, and public awareness, at now an unidentified statewide level.

A statement from the department says nearly 5,500 fatalities and a half-million injuries were a result from a distracted driver in 2009. Distracted driving traffic fatalities in 2009 account for up to 16 percent of all traffic accidents.

Thirty-four states, including the District of Columbia and Guam, currently have enacted texting-while-driving bangs, while nine states, including the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, have banned all handheld cellphone use together while driving.

Study Shows One-Fourth of Accidents from Texting and Driving

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The Governors Highway Safety Association last week released fresh new research which shows the results of distracted driving across the county. The study proves that talking and texting on cell phones while driving are accountable for almost 25 percent of all car accidents in the United States.

The information was collected from a study called “Distracted Driving: What Research Shows and What States Can Do” which state officials read over 350 documents published between the years 2000 and 2011.
The report not only defines what distracted driving actually is, but also includes discussions on how distractions can lead to fatal car accidents and adds new ways and methods of refining the law to combat the dangers of distracted driving.

“Despite all that has been written about driver distraction, there is still a lot that we do not know,” GHSA Executive Director Barbara Harsha said, who watched the report develop. “Much of the research is incomplete or contradictory. Clearly, more studies need to be done addressing both the scope of the problem and how to effectively address it.”

The study concluded that one quarter of all crashes are caused from distracted driving, and found that drivers are frequently distracted about half the time on the road. It also points out that text messaging while driving is one of the easiest and dangerous ways to get into a car crash, with talking on cell phones while driving is next in line.

The authors of the study kindly suggest that state government agencies take a variety of steps, including leveraging low-cost edge and centerline rumble strips which alert motorists when they begin to move outside their driving lane, implementing distracted driving laws and programs, monitoring the usage of cell phones while driving with new laws being enacted, and evaluating other laws and programs which could benefit the citizens and government of the U.S.

One in Five Crashes in New York Due to Distracted Driving

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In the state of New York, a new recent national campaign/study in Syracuse suggests one in five crashes is due to distracted driving.

The U.S. Department of Transportation picked up New York as one of two cities in the country to scope out distracted driving in April of 2010. This is called the DOT’s Distracted Driving Enforcement Project which includes a combination of public seminars, law enforcement crackdown, police efforts, and public awareness including speakers from insurance companies and statistics. This was a year-long project was labeled as, “Phone in one hand. Ticket in the other”, which proved that cell phone and texting usage while driving had dropped by 32 percent in Syracuse.

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Barbara J. Fiala, commissioner of Department of Motor Vehicles, publically announced the results from the campaign with law enforcement officials, similar to the national “Click it or Ticket,” campaign which was used to get individuals to wear their seatbelts in the car.

“The Distracted Driving Enforcement Project was an important step in capturing the public’s attention and communicating the message that talking on a cell phone or texting while driving will not be tolerated. We are pleased to have collaborated with the many dedicated partners that helped to make this unique initiative a success,” Chair of the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee and Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Barbara J. Fiala said.

Over the course of this year-long project, more than $9,500 in tickets was issued.

Bills Seek Banning Cell Phone Usage in Cars

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Texting or talking on cell phones while operating a vehicle can possibly become illegal soon if one of two bills on Tuesday is approved by a House committee, however the use of hands-free devices would still be legal.

The House Transportation and Highways and Public Works Committee approved both bills, one of which was approved by Rep. Austin Badon dealing with any vehicles, by a 12-2 vote in New Orleans.

The original bill was meant for the use of commercial vehicles only but was changed for the use of all vehicles.

“No one has the right to put another person’s life in jeopardy,” said Badon. Drivers who use hand-held phones are “four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to harm themselves.”

Passing the bill is believed to allow the state half of the $94 million it would receive in federal funds divided amongst all the states that ban the use of cell phones while driving, making it a primary offense.

Officers have always had the right to pull over a driver and ticket them as long as something is declared as a primary offense.

“It’s a new carrot dangling out there,” Badon said.

Badon’s bill provides the first violation in exchange for $100 the second for around $150, and $50 more for the next two violations, giving the fourth an opportunity to attest to get it lowered.

Rep. Hollis Downs was approved to proceed all fines from the Transportation Trust Fund to help pay for improvements along the highway. He said that since the money is an excess, it will not be taking away any funds from any agencies.

Tougher Law Enforcement Would Cut Driving Distractions

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Despite Delaware’s strict laws against texting and driving with a car in motion, the roadways are still dangerous and action needs to be enforced.

Delaware police have issued more than 5,000 tickets to motorists since the law went into effect on the first of January.

A person can easily go out to the highway and get into a crash every day from distracted drivers either texting or talking on their cell phones.

State police say on Sunday a truck driver that was hauling potatoes missed a warning sign because he was talking on his phone.

A train had hit his truck and his potatoes were spilled all across the U.S. 113.

No one was hurt, luckily. But Distracted driving accidents are only increasing every day.

The U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood says distracted driving is currently the nation’s top driving priority.

Monday revealed new research that plans to step up all warnings and advertisements with law enforcement and hopefully cut driving accidents by a small percentage.

A brief test in Syracuse proved that both handheld cell phone use and texting behind the wheel had decline by one-third. Usages of cell phones and texting behind the wheel dropped by 57 percent in Hartford.

This was all conducted through many complains and education seminars by safety agencies, insurance companies, and law enforcement.