Distracted Driving
Distracted driving, mainly because of increased cell phone usage, has become a great concern among safety officials and policy makers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) estimate that nearly 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near crashes involve some form of driver inattention. VTTI found cell phones to be the most common cause of driver distraction. A 2003 Harvard study estimated that cellphone distractions caused 2,600 traffic deaths every year, and 330,000 crashes that result in moderate or severe injuries.
Texting in particular was found to increase crash risk by up to 23 percent. According to Brian Newbacher, AAA East Central director of public affairs, “texting while driving poses even greater safety concerns than cell phone use due to the time involved looking away from the road.” He said that “AAA often refers to the Rule of Two, which holds that drivers are about two times more likely to be involved in a crash when looking away from the roadway for two seconds or longer. Clearly, text messaging violates this rule in most instances, especially while writing and sending a text.”
The American Medical Association (AMA) refers to the generation who texts on a constant basis as “text-aholics,” some arguing that it is worse than being drunk.
Legislation that bans text messaging while driving was considered in 26 states in 2008 and it is now law in 19 states. Major cities that have banned texting while driving include Cleveland, Phoenix, Chicago and Detroit.
There are a variety of different bills sitting in the House and Senate that seek to limit drivers’ use of cell phone devices. While all of the measures would prohibit text messaging while driving, they take different approaches to speaking on cell phones. The main bill that is currently discussed in the legislature is HB 415, which would “prohibit driving a vehicle while text messaging on a mobile communication device.” Links to some of the other/previous bills can be found here.
MORPC’s 2010 Public Policy Agenda advocates for legislation and policies that improve driver safety in Ohio, including supporting state and local legislation to reduce distracted driving. Specifically, MORPC is urging state adoption of legislation banning texting and limiting cell phone usage while driving. MORPC testified in favor of state distracted driving legislation before the Ohio House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee on Feb. 23, 2010.
General References & Links
AMA meeting: Texting while driving, trans fats on hit list. Retrieved August 26, 2009, from American Medical News: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/12/01/prsd1201.htm
Driven to Distraction - Dismissing the Risks of a Deadly Habit. Retrieved August 25, 2009, from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/technology/19distracted.html?_r=2&fta=y
Federal Agency Plans Distracted Driving Forum. Retrieved August 25, 2009, from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/us/politics/05drive.html?hpw
Traffic Safety and Public Health: State Legislative Action 2008, No. 33. Retrieved August 25, 2009, from National Conference of State Legislatures: http://www.ncsl.org/documents/transportation/08trafficsafety.pdf
Videos (Caution: Some are very graphic):
Texting While Driving: How Dangerous is it? - Car and Driver:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbiHwGBsRr0&feature=related
Texting While Driving- Public Service Announcement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ25PC6lvXU
Local Events and Efforts
2009 Click It or Ticket
MORPC together with the Franklin County Safe Communities program (Columbus Public Health) held the 2009 Click it or Ticket campaign kick-off event in front of the Columbus statehouse on May 19th. The following YouTube videos demonstrate the passionate speaker panel during the press conference. (Watch the short video below, or double-click on the video to view it in full screen. Links to each speaker are below the video.)
Chester R. Jourdan, Jr. Bill Windsor Lt. Anthony Bradshaw Dr. Steven Santanello National, Statewide and Local Safety Initiatives and Programs (in alphabetical order)
