Pilot program aims to make roads safer in Hartford, Syracuse and across America

Today we're launching pilot programs in Hartford and Syracuse to encourage people to keep their hands on the wheel and off the phone. As the Wall Street Journal reports, "The goal is to test the effectiveness of tactics that could be used in broader efforts."

By now readers know that I am on a rampage to curb distracted driving. The reason for that is obvious: talking, texting, and other distractions behind the wheel are killing people--6,000 every year, with more than 500,000 injured. 6,000 people--all of them sons or daughters, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, spouses, friends.

Last month, 14-month-old Grayson Paul Earl Jett was killed in Minnesota by a driver reaching to pick up a dropped cell phone. As Jon Cummings of Minnesotans for Safe Driving said, "The sad thing is that this 14-month-old pays with his life for just pretty much a mindless thing you've done a thousand times."

Here's how it was reported on KSTP-TV: "Police say a crash that killed a baby boy in Columbia Heights was completely preventable. All the driver had to do was keep her eyes on the road."

It's clear we need focused driving, and we've made great progress in our campaign. Many states have banned texting while driving--21 of them so far. Some--including Connecticut and New York--have banned hand-held cell phone use.

Learn more about the dangers of distracted driving at D!straction.gov

But, through all of my work to reduce this deadly epidemic, I have noticed one constant point of resistance: people asking, "What's the point of these laws? It's not like we can enforce them."

Today, in Hartford and Syracuse we begin testing the idea that enforcement can change behavior by applying the lessons we learned when people raised the same criticism of seat belt laws or drunk driving laws.

 I'm joined in Hartford by NHTSA Administrator David Strickland and a host of Hartford police officers

We know that drivers can change their behavior. The number of drunk drivers on the road is at its lowest recorded rate. And seat belt use is at its highest.

Legislation, enforcement, public outreach, and the support of industry and advocacy groups--these keys to the success of seat belt and drunk driving campaigns are also the keys for making distracted driving a thing of the past.

So we're partnering with law enforcement officers in Hartford and Syracuse to support highly visible enforcement of state distracted driving laws.

And we'll supplement that with an ad campaign that says if you have a cell-phone in one hand while driving, law enforcement officers will make sure you're going to have a ticket in the other hand.

I look forward to being able to return to this blog with good news from these new pilot programs.

Look, distracted driving is not just a technology problem; it's a human problem. And only by changing human behavior can we make our roads safer from this threat.

Together, I know we can do that.

Comments

[Christopher Douwes]

The pedestrian and bicycle advocacy organizations applaud our DOT efforts to reduce distracted driving. For example, America Walks posted the DOT proposal to ban texting for truck and bus drivers, because pedestrians see distracted driving as a threat, see www.americawalks.org/2010/04/new-texting-ban/.

Do we have information about the number of pedestrians and bicyclists killed or injured because of distracted drivers?

[Diane Johnson]

I'm from MN & posted this on my FB wall as soon as I could. This precious child would still be ALIVE if the driver remembered: "Turn Off Cell B/4 Driving!"

To help each of you (& all you contact) remember to do so, I offer this fun, inexpensive, quick, effective answer to reaching those people that THINK THEY are in the 2% - 2 1/2% of drivers who MAY be able to SAFELY(?) drive while talking on a cell phone:

Buy 1 pkg. of Avery 5260 labels; go to site

http://myplace.frontier.com/~DriveSafely/

Print 24 pages x 30 = 720 "Turn Off Cell B/4 Driving!" safety reminder stickers; stick to cell phones &/or drivers' visors; wear or "seal" snail mail; share 1 @ a time, strips of 10, or sheets of 30; &/or give to children so they can help spread this important message to neighbors, friends & their parents, & their teachers. Be sure to save the final page of 30 to print site directions so others can print their OWN stickers!

In this way EACH one of you can reach 720 people PLUS 30 x 720 = 21,600 MORE! THINK about this: each of THOSE can do that, too!!

We WILL save lives NOW! (While waiting for the government to pass "Click Off Cell" to go w/ "Click It or Ticket" laws for seatbelts!!)

[Kate Gigli]

I also was injured in Minnesota when a driver dropped her cell phone on the floor of the passenger side of the car and reached down to pick it up so she could finish her conversation. I was rear-ended.

For me, I needed to make a difference. I have created hands-free campaigns for electronics retailers and continute to help stop this "bad habit". Because it is just that....a habit that can be broken.

Kate Gigli

[ches]

I salute your efforts to reduce distracted driving. As an itinerant teacher of the visually impaired, I drive from school to school within CT and witness too many drivers (even in school parking lots) who are more focused on their phones than on what is going on it the real world around them.

[Michael E. Bailey]

I saw where the Orange County Sheriff's Department now has a distracted driving program and link on their website for high school students. There are always a few who say distracted driving laws can't be enforced but for them to say that is for them to deny history. Some people said the same thing about drunk driving laws and about seatbelt laws. Now most people drive sober and most use the seatbelts, and in a few years most people won't taldk or text on the cell phone and drive any longer either. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.

[Dawn Lonsdorf]

I can't remember where I saw it and hence, apologize for not having a link to add here. It may have been when I clicked on deathbycellphone.org one time...anyway, I believe that there's technology and one cell phone brand available that detects a car's motion and disables the phone. The issue, of course, is that even a passenger would be prevented from being on the phone...but do we REALLY need to be THAT connected? It seems like a good solution to this issue. My mother was in a head-on collision caused by a distracted driver four months ago and though she only crushed her foot (it could have been much worse) it's completely altered her life. Thankfully it has also affected my cell phone habits in a positive manner!

[Bob T]

Go Ray (LaHood)
As a victim of a distracted driver and permanently imparied, I applaud your efforts to stop ALL distracted driving.
Go Ray,
Bob T.

[moby wraps]

America Walks posted the DOT proposal to ban texting for truck and bus drivers, because pedestrians see distracted driving as a threa