2010:Stop cell phone use and texting while driving! Part 2

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Expand view Topic review: 2010:Stop cell phone use and texting while driving! Part 2

Re: 2010:Stop cell phone use and texting while driving! Part 2

by brian » Tue Dec 28, 2010 3:16 pm

Dec 28, 2010 AT&T documentary takes on texting while driving
In a proactive public relations move, AT&T is taking the lead on texting-and-driving prevention with an 11-minute documentary on the topic, intended to reach consumers before New Year's Eve.
The documentary, called The Last Text, features stories about people whose lives were adversely affected by texting behind the wheel, including the parents of Mariah West, who died after texting "Where u at?" to a friend.
AT&T is distributing the film to schools, safety organizations and government agencies and on its YouTube channel
See the video documentary The Last Text,

Re: 2010:Stop cell phone use and texting while driving! Part 2

by brian » Wed Dec 15, 2010 11:45 am

Dec 15, 2010: 20-year-old Arrested in Texting While Driving Death of Elderly Pedestrian
Suspect has posted bail and is expected to be arraigned later this month.
  • A 20-year-old Tujunga woman has been arrested on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter after allegedly running a stop sign and killing an elderly pedestrian while texting on her cell-phone.
    After a 3 month investigation into the accident, Ani Voskanian, was taken into custody at her home Tuesday morning, Glendale police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

Re: 2010:Stop cell phone use and texting while driving! Part 2

by brian » Tue Sep 28, 2010 11:06 am

Sept 28, 2010: From USA Today Texting bans may add risk to roads
They report :
  • The president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says "Texting bans haven't reduced crashes at all," says IIHS's research arm studied the effectiveness of the laws. They compared rates of collision insurance claims in four states — California, Louisiana, Minnesota and Washington — before and after they enacted texting bans. Crash rates rose in three of the states after bans were enacted. The group theorizes that drivers try to evade police by lowering their phones when texting, increasing the risk by taking their eyes even further from the road and for a longer time.
The actual IIHS report is somewhat more tempered Texting bans don't reduce crashes; effects are slight crash increases

We add the cautionairy qoute on statistics...Statistics...wherein the truth lies..

NHTSA disputes the findings. "Between 2005 and 2008, distracted driving-related fatalities jumped from 10% to 16% of all traffic fatalities," Lahood says. "In 2009, for the first time in four years, distracted driving fatalities stopped rising, remaining at 16%. ... Tough laws are the first step and enforcement must be next. We know that anti-distracted-driving laws can be enforced effectively."

This all comes in concert with the Second National Distracted Driving Summit. See the main information page 2010 Distracted Driving Summit

Re: 2010:Stop cell phone use and texting while driving! Part 2

by brian » Tue Sep 21, 2010 10:19 am

Sept 20, 2010: Washington Post Greater enforcement is key for distracted-driver laws, recent crackdowns show
One of the major questions about distracted drivers has been whether they would obey the law. Drivers know it's tough to spot them when they send text messages, and that most police forces are too busy to make catching them a priority.
Ramped up enforcement in selected areas found that it is relatively easy to catch someone who has a phone pressed to his ear and quite difficult to spot someone texting. In Syracuse, they issued 4,172 citations to cellphone violators and 284 to texters. The results were similar in Hartford.
"Some officers would sit somewhere above the road, looking down," said Capt. Shannon Trice, who heads the police traffic division in Syracuse. "They found that was the most success with texting, since most people do texting in their laps."
Although both cities counted the effort as a success, neither could afford to maintain the same level of vigilance once the federal funding expired.
In what might be a turning point, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) will consider whether to endorse a complete ban on cellphone use while driving when it begins its annual meeting Sunday.
See the complete article: Greater enforcement is key for distracted-driver laws, recent crackdowns show

Re: 2010:Stop cell phone use and texting while driving! Part 2

by brian » Thu Sep 02, 2010 4:13 pm

Sept 2, 2010: More on that Pew Study w/r to texting in general.
72 percent of adults are text-messaging now, study says
The report "Cell Phones and American Adults," is from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.
From the overview:
  • 82% of American adults own a cell phone, Blackberry, iPhone or other device that is also a cell phone.
    Texting by adults has increased over the past 9 months from 65% of adults sending and receiving texts in September 2009 to 72% texting in May 2010. Still, adults do not send nearly the same number of texts per day as teens ages 12-17, who send and receive, on average, 5 times more texts per day than adult texters.
    ? Adults who text typically send and receive a median of 10 texts a day; teens who text send and receive a median of 50 texts per day.
    ? 5% of all adult texters send more than 200 text messages a day or more than 6,000 texts a month. Fully 15% of teens 12-17, and 18% of adults 18 to 24 text message more than 200 messages a day, while just 3% of adults 25 to 29 do the same.
    ? Heavy adult texters – those who send and receive more than 50 texts day -- also tend to be heavy users of voice calling. Light texters, who exchange 1 to 10 texts a day, do not make up for less texting by calling more. Instead, they are light users of both calling and texting.
    The original purpose of the cell phone is still the most universal – nearly every cell phone user makes calls on their phone at least occasionally.
    ? The average adult cell phone owner makes and receives around 5 voice calls a day.
    ? Women tend to make slightly fewer calls with their cell phones than men – while 53% of women make and receive 5 calls or fewer per day, 43% of men say the same. Men are a bit more likely to make slightly more phone calls in a day; 26% of men send and receive 6 to 10 calls a day, while 20% of women exchange that many calls. Men and women are equally likely to be represented at the extreme high end of callers with 8% of men and 6% of women making and taking more than 30 calls a day.
See the full report in PDF see Cell phones and American adults by Amanda Lenhart, Pew Research Center, Senior Research Specialist, 9/2/2010

Re: 2010:Stop cell phone use and texting while driving! Part 2

by brian » Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:43 am

Jun 18, 2010: Pew Study: Teens not the worst text-driving culprits
Apparently adults practice the 'do as i say, not as i do' when it comes to texting while driving.
A study by The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project says adults and teenagers are equally likely to have texted while driving. And adults are more likely to have chatted on their phones while driving.
The study found that 47 percent of adults who text reported sending or reading texts while behind the wheel. In a 2009 Pew study, a lower number — 34 percent — of 16- and 17-year-olds who send texts said that they did that while driving.

2010:Stop cell phone use and texting while driving! Part 2

by brian » Thu May 20, 2010 12:14 pm

This is a continuation of 3 other threads on the topic: May 19, 2010: "Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wants you to concentrate on your driving. Don’t answer that cell phone call. Don’t check your e-mail. And don’t even think about sending a text. Just drive."In an interview for the POLITICO video series “The Politics of America’s Youth” LaHood laid out his argument: “If you have an emergency in your car, pull over, grab your cell phone, talk to whoever you have to talk to,” he said. “But when you’re driving from one place to another, there is no message, either text or phone, that’s important until you get to your destination.”
See the interview and article LaHood: Stop distracted driving

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