"Intexticated" Drivers

News and Information related to Distracted Driving
brian
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"Intexticated" Drivers

Post by brian »

Managing Workers' Comp: "Intexicated" Drivers and Employer Liability
Sep 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Theresa Long
The article, from EHS Magazine, is not specifically on Accident Reconstruction topics, but the issue of "intexticated" drivers, i.e. drivers distracted by texting phones, etc is an issue of importance in accident reconstruction.
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brian
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Re: "Intexticated" Drivers

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From NYTimes, Driven to Distraction: Utah Gets Tough With Texting Drivers
By MATT RICHTEL, Published: August 28, 2009
LOGAN, Utah — In most states, if somebody is texting behind the wheel and causes a crash that injures or kills someone, the penalty can be as light as a fine. After a crash here that killed two scientists — and prompted a dogged investigation by a police officer and local victim’s advocate — Utah passed the nation’s toughest law to crack down on texting behind the wheel. Offenders now face up to 15 years in prison.NOTE: NOTE: On Links to archives of NYTimes.com, they require that you register your email address. It doesn't cost anything. It's free. But is surely is OBNOXIOUS. But many stories originate at NYTimes.com so register and then you can have access to all the links.
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brian
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Re: "Intexticated" Drivers

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High-Tech Solutions To Help Deter Driver Texting by Jenny Brundin, NPR
Texting while driving is so dangerous, many states have made it illegal — but just like driving drunk, people still do it. So high-tech companies across the nation are racing to develop devices to make it harder to text and drive. "We wish it was as simple as 'just don't do it,' " says Mike Fahnert, president of Safe Driving Systems in South Jordan, Utah. His company has designed a device to disable the phones of texting drivers. "This technology just helps keep you from doing it," he says.
'Driving While Intexticated'
A nationwide survey this year showed an estimated 45 percent of drivers 30 or younger are sending or receiving texts behind the wheel. Teens call it "driving while intexticated."
Safe Driving Systems' technology works by using a device called Key to Safe Driving. The "key" is actually a small rectangular plug that is inserted into the onboard diagnostic port that's underneath the dashboard of most cars. The company says the device will cost $99, but it plans to make it available for half that cost for a promotional period.
Once the car is on, a wireless signal is sent to the driver's cell phone. The words, "Safe Driving Mode" pop up on the user's cell phone screen, and the phone is disabled for all incoming and outgoing calls and texts, except for calls to 911 and two other optional emergency numbers.
This product is part of an emerging industry that is creating technology to minimize or eliminate driving distractions. San Diego-based DriveCam equips cars with video cameras to capture risky driving. Other products on the market rely on GPS technology that detects when a car is moving and turns off the cell phone. But because these products are motion-based, they can end up blocking cell use even when the caller is sitting in the back of a cab or on a bus.
See the full article for additional information: High-Tech Solutions To Help Deter Driver Texting
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brian
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Re: "Intexticated" Drivers

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Poll Finds Support for Ban on Texting at the Wheel
New York Times, By MARJORIE CONNELLY, September 28, 2009
The public overwhelmingly supports the prohibition of text messaging while driving, the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll finds. Ninety percent of adults say sending a text message while driving should be illegal, and only 8 percent disagree.
For full article see Poll Finds Support for Ban on Texting at the Wheel
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brian
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Re: "Intexticated" Drivers

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Obama bans gov't workers from texting while driving
01 Oct 2009 20:52:16 GMT,Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday signed an order banning federal workers from text messaging while driving on official business or using government vehicles.
"With nearly three million civilian employees, the federal government can and should demonstrate leadership in reducing the dangers of text messaging while driving," said the executive order.
It said recent deadly crashes involving drivers distracted by text messaging highlight a growing danger on the road.
Under the new executive order, all agencies in the executive branch must set up new rules and reevaluate existing programs to prohibit text messaging while driving. They should also encourage federal employees to voluntarily comply with the policy even when they are off duty.
For full article
Also avaialable on New York Times
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brian
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Re: "Intexticated" Drivers

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Interesting Op-Ed Contribution:Thumbs on the Wheel
NY Times, By MARK A. SHIFFRIN and AVI SILBERSCHATZ, Published: October 4, 2009
PRESIDENT Obama has forbidden federal employees from texting while driving. The federal Transportation Department plans to do the same for commercial-truck and Interstate-bus drivers. And support is building in Congress for legislation that would require states to outlaw texting or e-mailing while driving. Such distractions cause tens of thousands of deaths each year.
But the way to stop people from using cellphones while driving is not to make it a crime. Too many drivers value convenience more than safety and would assume they wouldn’t get caught. A more effective approach is to get telecommunications companies to tweak technology to make it difficult or impossible to text and drive.
When a cellphone is used in a moving car, its signal must be handed off from one cell tower to the next along the route. This process tells the service provider that the phone is in motion. Cellphone towers could be engineered to not transmit while a phone is traveling. After a phone had stopped moving for a certain amount of time — three minutes, maybe — it would be able to transmit again.
Another solution would be to install hardware in cars and software in cellphones that would disable some phone functions when cars are moving. It would be the electronics equivalent of putting a guard on a knife handle or a grill over the blades of a fan.
Read more ->Full Editorial
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brian
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Re: "Intexticated" Drivers

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When Texting Kills, Britain Offers Path to Prison
New York Times, ELISABETH ROSENTHAL, November 2, 2009
OXFORD, England — Inside the imposing British Crown Court here, Phillipa Curtis, 22, and her parents cried as she was remanded for 21 months to a high-security women’s prison, for killing someone much like herself. The victim was Victoria McBryde, an up-and-coming university-trained fashion designer.
Ms. Curtis had plowed her Peugeot into the rear end of Ms. McBryde’s neon yellow Fiat, which had broken down on the A40 Motorway, killing Ms. McBryde, 24, instantly.
The crash might once have been written off as a tragic accident. Ms. Curtis’s alcohol level was zero. But her phone, which had flown onto the road and was handed to the police by a witness, told a story that — under new British sentencing guidelines — would send its owner to jail.
With that as evidence, Ms. Curtis was sentenced in February under 2008 British government directives that regard prolonged texting as a serious aggravating factor in “death by dangerous driving” — just like drinking — and generally recommend four to seven years in prison.
The case reveals the tensions that arise when law enforcement and the courts begin to crack down on a dangerous habit that has become widespread and socially acceptable. Is texting while driving bad judgment, or a heinous crime? And what is the appropriate punishment?
Although most European countries and a minority of American states now ban the use of hand-held cellphones while driving, Britain has become one of the more aggressive countries in attacking the problem, according to Ellen Townsend, policy director for the European Transit Safety Council, which advises the European Commission. Britain’s new guidelines state that using a hand-held phone when causing a death will “always make the offense more serious” in terms of punishment and lead to prison time. Texting is given special treatment.
Ms. Curtis was found guilty and sent to prison even though she was not texting at the time of the accident, because the new guidelines regard “reading or composing text messages over a period of time” as “a gross avoidable distraction.” Its effect, British judges have ruled, may go beyond the moment of composing a message. Such behavior is categorized the same as driving while drunk or high on drugs, as well as racing another driver.
See the Full Story
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brian
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Re: "Intexticated" Drivers

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Nov 16, 2009: In an frightful illustration how teens don't read newspapers and don't listen information on TV a recent Pew Research survey found that "Twenty-six percent of American teens of driving age say they have texted while driving, and half (48%) of all teens ages 12 to 17 say they’ve been a passenger while a driver has texted behind the wheel." See the a Full Report Teens and Distracted driving
Pew Overview.jpg
Pew Overview.jpg (62.43 KiB) Viewed 12140 times
Summary of survey by Pew Research:
Pew.jpg
Pew.jpg (46.86 KiB) Viewed 12140 times
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brian
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Re: "Intexticated" Drivers

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November 10, 2009: Rhode Island bans text messaging by all drivers
Rhode Island joins 18 other states in banning text messaging by all drivers, effective Nov. 9, 2009. For details on cellphone and texting bans in all states, go to list of Cellphone laws From that link the following is a Map of Texting banned
celtxtban.jpg
celtxtban.jpg (63.27 KiB) Viewed 12094 times
Also see thread on STOP CellPhone use when driving
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brian
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Re: "Intexticated" Drivers

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Study Proves It! Texting While Driving IS Really, Really Dangerous
Dec 16, 2009 From DailyFinance.com, ALEX SALKEVER
It seems a no-brainer, but a study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute has confirmed that texting while driving ups the chances of getting into a crash by roughly 2,300 percent. In other words, drivers are 23 times more likely to wreck if they are simultaneously texting.
The research gives a sober new meaning to the phrase "pry that BlackBerry from my cold dead hands" and is the most comprehensive evidence to date that texting while operating a motor vehicle is actually by far the most dangerous distracting behavior drivers engage in. See the Full Story
Also see the July 27, 2009 Press Release from Virginia Tech Transportation Institute titled "New Data from VTTI Provides Insight into Cell Phone Use and Driving Distraction"
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