Day 1 of our Distracted Driving Summit is in the books

I'm not sure where to begin--yesterday's Distracted Driving Summit proceedings were packed full of information; it was exciting to be in a room full of people putting their heads together so intently on this dangerous epidemic.

I was particularly moved by the stories of family members who have survived the death of a loved one due to distracted driving. Their words and experiences are such an important part of this discussion. And the strong response in the room and on the web to their stories tells me others think so as well.

Briefly, what conclusions do I draw from yesterday's panelists?

• The widespread nature of texting and talking on cell phones while driving indicates we need change the culture in America just as we did with drunk driving and seat belts.
•  Adults need to lead by example and end the disconnect between our knowledge that texting or calling while driving is indeed risky while persisting in that same risky behavior.
•  The technological picture is less than clear--many people yesterday got hung up in the weeds of the hand-held versus hands-free contest. That begs the question: Why can't we simply put these devices aside for short periods of time just as we do when we board airplanes?

That's enough to think about for now; I look forward to some guidance from today's panels.

And I'm particularly looking forward to our youth panel.

We've got something good going here, and I hope readers of this blog will tune in.

Comments

[John Hargreaves]

I believe that the cellular companies should have to use GPS technology to negate a cell phone's ability to create or receive a text message while the phone is in motion. The GPS technology already exists.

johnnybgood65@netzero.net

[m]

Unfortunately I'm unable to watch the liveblog of the proceedings, but I wish you luck in tackling this very real issue. I really hope that with so many minds assembled and thinking on the same topic, you can devise a way to look beyond the symptoms and address the root cause of the problem. Driving can never truly be undistracted. Our minds do many things at one time. That's what makes us human beings, and that's what makes life enjoyable. That's why banning or regulating a few forms of distraction can never solve the problem. It will always have to come down to a judgment call. What we need to do is find a way to teach drivers to judge their own level of distraction and keep it safe for the given situation.

I hope the people gathered can see that laws against texting and talking are not going to fix the real problem, and we need to do more than that. We already have laws for reckless driving. We don't need more to overlap those. We do need enforcement policies that train and enable officers to use judgment about what is and what isn't safe driving. Texting while driving is not always unsafe. Just like talking on the phone while driving isn't always unsafe. The safety of such an act depends on a huge number of factors including the driver, the car, the road, the traffic situation, weather conditions, and the conversation. The real problem is letting people that can't make these judgment calls onto the road. A blanket ban is wholly inappropriate and does nothing to address the real cause of the problem. As with most safety problems on the road, driver training and enforcement are the path to a solution.

[Kelly Street]

Some of us live in the real world and have real jobs that require us to travel away from home and do not have chauffers to drive us.We commute more than the average politician does.We need less government interference in our lives.Stop telling us to wear our helmets,wear our seatbelts,don't use the phone.People have the right to choose and pay the consequence for making the wrong choice.

[Juliana Carnes]

Mr. Secretary, thank you for your leadership on the issue of distracted driving. My firm, MVS (www.mvs.net) has followed government concern around distracted driving for several years now. We are delighted to see the United States making strides towards the changes that came earlier in the UK and parts of Europe.

My firm, MVS, specializes in Heads Up Navigation systems. European and Japanese auto makers are licensing our technology now. We hope to fund additional testing in the United States - focusing on autos and ground-based safety in air travel.

Would you kindly direct me to the appropriate person(s) at DoT who would consider helping us fund these studies (with NASA and Stanford)?

Study 1: Driving and navigation distraction - map/console vs. HUD. (NHTSB?)

Study 2: Air traffic safety. Can 3D HUDs solve the ground-safety limitations of current systems? (NTSB?) - with Ames.

With great respect,

Juliana Carnes
MVS
JCC - at - MVS.NET
cc: Matt Richtel, NY Times

[Michael E. Bailey]

The Summit was a great idea and a lot of good has come from it. The California law allows hands free phones to be used. As far as I know no information has come out yet on accidents involving drivers using the hands free phones. But anything like a phone that distracts from driving is not a good thing. and I remember there was some debate in the legislature as to weather or not all car phones should be banned but the hands free ones were left in inorder to get the bill passed. But the law does seem to have helped a lot. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.