Cops, lawmakers send message: Dnt txt & drive
09-03-09, 10:06 AM
#1
Guest
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Cops, lawmakers send message: Dnt txt & drive
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32584570...h_and_gadgets/
New research suggests that texting while driving increases the risk of a crash
Nicholas Sparks didn’t plan to go swimming on a recent Wednesday morning. But sheriff’s deputies in Niagara County, N.Y., say Sparks found himself — and his tow truck — in a backyard pool July 29 after he rear-ended a car and screeched off the road at high speed.
Sparks, 25, of Burt, N.Y., is charged with reckless driving, talking on a cell phone and following too closely in the incident, which left the 68-year-old woman whose car he allegedly hit briefly hospitalized with head injuries and slightly injured his 8-year-old grandniece, who was with him in the truck.
As it happens, deputies say, Sparks was using two cell phones at the same time — talking on one and sending text messages on the other. But he faces charges only for talking, because while it’s illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving in New York, it won’t explicitly be illegal to send text messages on one until Nov. 1, when a law passed last week takes effect.
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Numerous localities have text-driving bans, some limited to novice drivers or vehicles passing through school zones. But the practice is prohibited statewide in only 10 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association, an organization of state highway officials that endorsed nationwide prohibitions this week.
Momentum is gathering to stamp out the practice, however. By January, New York and eight other states will have joined the list when laws awaiting enactment go into effect.
Utah’s legislature has taken one of the toughest stances, passing a law that imposes a penalty of up to 15 years in prison on texting drivers who cause an accident that kills someone.
Risk research only now emerging
It might seem obvious that using a cell phone would be a distraction for a driver, but only recently has a large body of research emerged to demonstrate it. There is even less research examining the specific risk of typing out text messages.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded that in 2002 that a quarter-million accidents and 955 deaths could be attributed to drivers’ use of cell phones, either texting or talking. That research was finally obtained by safety activists last month under the Freedom of Information Act — after it had sat on the shelf for years, The New York Times reported, because of concerns that publishing it might appear to be an act of political lobbying.
Video
Dangers of text-driving
July 28: TODAY host Meredith Vieira talks with Weida Stoecker of White Hall, Md., whose husband was killed in 2007 by a teenage driver who was texting.
It was not until last month that the first large-scale research on “driving while intexticated” — sending text messages while behind the wheel — appeared.
That study, by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, concluded that the risk of an accident was four times greater for a driver typing out a text message than for a driver dialing a cell phone — and more than 23 times greater than for a driver who wasn’t distracted by a phone at all.
New research suggests that texting while driving increases the risk of a crash
Nicholas Sparks didn’t plan to go swimming on a recent Wednesday morning. But sheriff’s deputies in Niagara County, N.Y., say Sparks found himself — and his tow truck — in a backyard pool July 29 after he rear-ended a car and screeched off the road at high speed.
Sparks, 25, of Burt, N.Y., is charged with reckless driving, talking on a cell phone and following too closely in the incident, which left the 68-year-old woman whose car he allegedly hit briefly hospitalized with head injuries and slightly injured his 8-year-old grandniece, who was with him in the truck.
As it happens, deputies say, Sparks was using two cell phones at the same time — talking on one and sending text messages on the other. But he faces charges only for talking, because while it’s illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving in New York, it won’t explicitly be illegal to send text messages on one until Nov. 1, when a law passed last week takes effect.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here
Numerous localities have text-driving bans, some limited to novice drivers or vehicles passing through school zones. But the practice is prohibited statewide in only 10 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association, an organization of state highway officials that endorsed nationwide prohibitions this week.
Momentum is gathering to stamp out the practice, however. By January, New York and eight other states will have joined the list when laws awaiting enactment go into effect.
Utah’s legislature has taken one of the toughest stances, passing a law that imposes a penalty of up to 15 years in prison on texting drivers who cause an accident that kills someone.
Risk research only now emerging
It might seem obvious that using a cell phone would be a distraction for a driver, but only recently has a large body of research emerged to demonstrate it. There is even less research examining the specific risk of typing out text messages.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded that in 2002 that a quarter-million accidents and 955 deaths could be attributed to drivers’ use of cell phones, either texting or talking. That research was finally obtained by safety activists last month under the Freedom of Information Act — after it had sat on the shelf for years, The New York Times reported, because of concerns that publishing it might appear to be an act of political lobbying.
Video
Dangers of text-driving
July 28: TODAY host Meredith Vieira talks with Weida Stoecker of White Hall, Md., whose husband was killed in 2007 by a teenage driver who was texting.
It was not until last month that the first large-scale research on “driving while intexticated” — sending text messages while behind the wheel — appeared.
That study, by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, concluded that the risk of an accident was four times greater for a driver typing out a text message than for a driver dialing a cell phone — and more than 23 times greater than for a driver who wasn’t distracted by a phone at all.
09-03-09, 12:41 PM
#6
Lead Lap
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Texting and driving should be banned everywhere. I know plenty of people, mostly female to be honest, who frequently text and drive. And then you tell them to stop doing this and you get the message back saying, "ok." Message not sunk in.
09-03-09, 12:46 PM
#7
Did they honestly have to sink money into research for this? Shows how bright they are, anyone can tell, anything that distracts a driver off the road automatically leads to a higher risk of accidents. I constantly have to harass my friend when riding with him, because he's just the little princess who loves to text.....
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09-03-09, 02:12 PM
#9
Lexus Champion
There is much spirited debate about talking while driving, and I'm sure that the cell companies are funding opposition. But states should just start off with legislation banning texting--no one in their right mind can argue with a straight face that it isn't dangerous. Get the anti-texting laws on the books, then go back and try to fight to get the anti-talking laws passed.
09-03-09, 06:17 PM
#12
Pole Position
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why is this such a big deal you dont have to keep posting articles that all say dont txt and drive... i like talking while i drive because im stuck in traffic for pretty much my whole commute.
09-03-09, 06:35 PM
#13
Lexus Fanatic
the auto manufactueres will need to develop something that can allow text communication via voice recorder and transcriber. If they made blue tooth happen this shouldn't be to far away
09-03-09, 06:42 PM
#14
Lexus Fanatic
You may have to give your name and address, and, while you may win in the short run, trust me, the last thing you want to do is to make more enemies. You don't know what kind of retaliation they could take on you.....or your family. Police and prosecutors are paid to take those kind of risks. You aren't.
