DOT holding firm on campaign to end distracted driving

UPDATE: Since I posted the entry below, I've am pleased to have learned from The Washington Post and The New York Times that the Seward Square Group is abandoning its plans to obstruct our efforts to end distracted driving.

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Let's make this clear: DOT and the safety community will not be stalled by a new effort to rile up corporate America and undermine the achievements of our campaign against distracted driving.

Regardless of what a powerful lobbying group has to say, the simple fact is that texting and talking on cell phones behind the wheel is a deadly epidemic. With nearly 6,000 deaths and more than half a million injuries from distracted driving in 2008--each of them completely preventable--we will continue to encourage drivers to put down their devices and keep their minds on the road.

DOT's commitment to safety is unequivocal.

Some people think they can text or talk on the phone and still drive safely. You cannot do it.

When you look at your blackberry for four seconds, you are driving the length of a football field without watching the road. And when you talk on your cell phone, you tell your brain it's okay to devote your primary attention to something other than your driving.

Yet we see this every day. We are a nation of cell phone users, and we've all used these devices while driving. But, when we think about it--when we read about the deaths and when we see the data--we understand that it's wrong.

Jennifer Smith of FocusDriven discusses the human cost of distracted driving as Vernon Betkey and Janet Froescher look on

As Janet Froetscher of the National Safety Council points out:

"Cell phone use behind the wheel is by far the cause of the most distracted driving crashes. It's a deadly combination of high risk--cell phone drivers are four times more likely to crash-- and high saturation--70% of American drivers have their cell phones with them. Cell phone use is a factor in 28% of all motor vehicle crashes, in 1.6 million crashes each year."

That hardly seems benign to me.

To suggest otherwise is to put your head in the sand. To spend considerable resources to suggest otherwise is a glaring waste.

That's why I was stunned to read that anyone would organize an effort to undercut road safety, much less declare that the "auto, tech, and insurance industries have become collateral damage."

Jim Hall stands up for real road safety

And that's why Jim Hall, a former head of the National Transportation Safety Board, stood with me today to denounce that effort: "The only effort I'm going to have anything to do with is to support Secretary LaHood and these safety advocates."

Look, the victims of distracted driving are the only real collateral damage here--the parents who have lost children, and the children who have lost parents.

Are you really going to tell Jerry Cibley of Massachusetts that breaking the habit that killed his son should not be a DOT issue? Are you really going to tell Jennifer Smith of Texas, who lost her mother, that states should continue to allow drivers to focus on their cell phones and not on the road in front of them?

Well, I won't do that. And real safety advocates won't do that. When it comes to safety, this DOT is holding firm.

Comments

[David]

Thank you for holding firm--distracted driving must come to an end. As always in these issues, the need for regulation becomes clear when organized groups put their "concerns" before common sense and drivers claim they can drive and text with "no problem". Thank you for your efforts on this.

[Cindy]

I am glad to see that this issue is being discussed. Thanks to these efforts and those of people in the media, like Oprah, perhaps we can reduce driving distractions. Thank you!

[Baylink]

Well, if you're going to play Mr Hardcore, than you'd better also make it a primary offense for drivers to allow conversation in their car while it's moving, or to eat their Big Mac, put on make up, etc.

Fine, you want to be an absolutist, be an absolutist, and you'll probably save a few more lives.

But the price will be higher than Americans are willing to pay, as a citizenry.

If you *won't* indeed arrest, charge, and convict people on these other 'offenses', though, you'll be tacitly admiting the Seward group is correct in their assertions.

You have those two choices; you wanna throw down, we'll throw down, if you take the middle road.

[kevin in dc]

How on earth is this possible? We recall products when a hand full of people get hurt. People are getting killed at an alarming rate and very little has been done to stop this. Some states have jumped on board - good for them. however in some of those states people can not be stopped specifically for this offense. That is virtually worthless.
After hands-free went into effect in DC I noticed that people went from holding a cell phone to their ear to talk to holding it in their hand with the person on speaker phone. It's very easy put put that phone - still in your hand - out of site.
Shame on those industries hiring lobbyist. Money is much more important to them than human life.

[Michael Hill]

I do not agree with your campaign. I understand texting, but cellphones need to be left alone.

[Marvin Morgan]

I read the presentation on Fair Warning's website and it doesn't mention anything about supporting texting-while-driving or use of phones while driving. It does point out, though, that the Secretary of Transportation and other federal officials were quoted in newspapers calling to ban ALL mobile technology from cars - in fact the Secretary backed out of that very question during the press conference according to MSNBC: http://bit.ly/cztt2Q

Is that true Secretary LaHood? Do you support banning Sync, OnStar, hands-free, and ticketing people for just having their mobile in the car? What about for emergencies? I support your efforts to stop people using phones while driving but a total ban seems too much.

[Edward Cullen]

What we really need is bans on distracted driving just like we have bans on intoxicated driving. Whipping up hysteria about technology unfamiliar to the old is just grandstanding that leads to overly specific and complicated policy and legislation, all of which misses the point.

[Sara Miller]

I understand that people want to protect there rights as American Citizens, and I can respect that. A complete ban of cell phones in the car is a bit rough. We will never be able to eliminate distractions completely, but something needs to be done, because there is no worse thought to a mother, than going to reach for her cell phone when driving to text/call, and waking up to her family being gone, because that phone call or text was more important to her at that time than driving. Well it is my right to fight and protect my 3 yr. old sons right to live, and live well, because it seems that the people that fight for their right to be distracted behind the wheel, aren't thinking about the road in front of them or anything else outside their world for that matter. You see..my child cant make choices for himself so I will fight to protect him in this self absorbed world we live in. Now ask yourself this? Whats more important to you? Your life/safety along with your loved ones, or your right to be distracted?

www.TextNoMore.com

[Jim Koury]

I agree with Secretary LaHood's efforts to end distracted driving via texting. Text No More is a wonderful service to encourage safe driving. It will directly have an beneficial impact in preventing roadway deaths and accidents due to texting.

[Tyler Bel]

I am part of a company called TextNoMore, which in all its efforts is going to retrain the world to drive without distractions. It's an application for your phone that rewards you for safe driving.
I didn't even blink an eye when helping form this company because I myself have even succumbed to the little blinking light on my phone and the cute little chime that goes along with it.
I mean, let's face it, Texting is a drug, it's addictive, and it's just as bad as alcohol or any other substance that takes your focus away from the road, away from the world, away from your teachers, away from work.
We try to multi-task, and really, all we do is place ourselves in harms way, and place EVERYONE else around us in the same spot. So it doesn't matter how cautious and careful the driver next to you is, how well they turn the corner, or the fact that they opt to NOT text while driving. Plain and simple, if you text on the road, you can kill someone, even yourself. And that to me just isn't right and NEEDS to change. I refuse to let this addiction take the world down.
We never used to have this urge before the dawn of smarter handheld devices. Yay for technology, but seriously, let's use it wisely.
Like a dog, we can retrain ourselves, and thankfully with TextNoMore, reward ourselves in the process.
If you would like to know more about TextNoMore, and how you can capitalize on this new application and world movement, check out the associated URL. "Safe a life, it could be your own."

[Michael E. Bailey]

I am very glad that reason and facts have won out over the Seward Square Group. They sound like ultra-conservatives who want to do as they want when they want and don't care about the impact on any one else. Distracted driving is a major problem and all of us need to hold firm in the face of a wealthy powerful few who want to turn back the progress that has been made. Thank you for holding firm. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.

[Medaline]

Usually, I don't speak on the phone while driving; if I'm at a stop light I'll respond briefly that I'm driving and will call when I get home, otherwise I let it go into voice mail. However, I must admit that the temptation is very great when I'm expecting important calls (business not social). To address those temptations safely is FDIVoice that allows you to receive and make calls as welll as receive and send text and emails using only your voice. Please visit www.FDIDVD.com/SeizetheMoment to learn more.