Ontario targets cell phones, text messages

Ontario drivers would be prohibited from using hand-held cell phones and texting devices under a bill being pushed through by Transportation Minister Jim Bradley.

The Canadian province would join Newfoundland and Labrador in banning use of cell phone while driving unless a hands-free device is employed. The transportation overseers say hand-held devices are involved in about a fifth of all highway accidents.

Drivers’ use of other devices such as iPods, MP3 players, video game players and laptop computers would be prohibited under the proposed law. Bill 118 is called the “Countering Distracted Driving Act.”

Fines begin at $500 per infraction. Motorists who cause harm to others while using a cell phone or similar device face fines of up to $1,000, license suspension and possible imprisonment.

The Ontario Medical Association recently pushed for a ban on cell phoning while operating a vehicle, saying it is clear that any activity such as dialing, typing or reading a text message is unsafe for drivers and those around them.

“Doctors know all too well the consequences of driving while distracted,” OMA president Ken Arnold said.

Nebraska: Cell phone laws, legislation

Distracted driving update: Nebraska’s lawmakers and governor have approved a ban on texting while driving. The ban, which calls for only “secondary enforcement,” was approved by the governor on April 13 and takes effect July 1.

Current prohibitions:
Text messaging outlawed for all drivers on Nebraska’s roads and highways (effective July 1).

Drivers under the age of 18 with learner’s permits or intermediate licenses are prohibited from using cell phones.

2010 legislation:
Nebraska Legislative Bill 945: Would outlaw text messaging by all drivers. Secondary offense. Fines $200 for first offense; $300 for second; and $500 plus three points on the motorist’s license for subsequent violations. Approved by the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee on March 2 and then, finally, by the full Legislature on April 8 (38-2-9 vote). The measure was sent to Gov. Dave Heineman, who signed it into law on April 13. (Harms)

2010 Nebraska legislation notes:
Sen. John Harms, Scottsbluff, is the author of Legislative Bill 945. It is the senator’s follow-up to his successful campaign to ban teens from texting and using cell phones while behind the wheel. Heineman vetoed the previous distracted driving measure for teens, but was overridden.

March 16′s first-round vote on the 2010 texting bill was 27-19 — with only two “yes” votes to spare over what is needed for passage.

An earlier Associated Press survey of Nebraska state legislators found 22 of them in favor of a texting ban. Five were opposed. (Six were unsure and 16 did not respond.)

A man who lost his 16-year-old daughter in an accident linked to another teen’s distracted driving testified Feb. 9 in support of LB 945. “I’m sure you wouldn’t want to tell me (in case of a death), ‘I’m sorry, I was just making a very important call. I was just dialing,” Rob Reynolds said. The Reynolds family started a safe driving campaign in honor of their daughter, Cady. The transportation committee approved the bill on March 2.

Previous legislation notes:
The ban on young drivers’ use of cell phones was enacted despite the governor’s veto. The bill was LB 415.

Sen. Norm Wallman, Cortland, who opposed LB 415, said the law shouldn’t apply to just teenagers. He told the World Herald that he would support a bill prohibiting all drivers from using cell phones.

“I figured if we are going to restrict teenagers we should restrict us all,” he said. “I’m definitely against texting.”

“Technology is getting ahead of us,” said former state Sen. Jim Cudaback of Riverdale, who sponsored an unsuccessful 2006 bill to prohibit cell phone use while driving. “(Legislative bills) shouldn’t be reactive but proactive.

“Nebraska is conservative, so some senators may need to see a need for this law before they approve it,’” he said. He introduced a similar bill in 2001.

National Transportation Safety Board representative Kathryn Higgins testified before a Nebraska Legislature panel in 2006, urging limits on cell phone use by young drivers.

Software plays cell-phone nanny

Originally published April 19, 2009
New software aims to neutralize the dangers of using mobile phones while driving, via a mechanism that prevents and controls incoming and outgoing calls.

DriveAssist will be offered next year through major wireless carriers. The technology was developed by Canadian tech company Aegis Mobility in conjunction with Nationwide Insurance. Nationwide customers will receive a discount of up to 5% for using the software.

“Research has confirmed that the distraction associated with cell phone use is much more dangerous than originally suspected,” said Aegis Mobility spokesperson David Teater.

Teater should know: His 12-year-old son Joe was killed when a driver ran a red light while distracted by a cell phone. In response, Teater became an advocate for cell phone driving reforms.

Here is the DriveAssist product description:

The technology works like a personal assistant by informing the caller that the person they are trying to reach is driving and can’t answer the phone or text message. The service offers options to the caller, including the opportunity to leave a message, send an audible alert or request a callback. The service always allows 911 calls and offers an override feature for passengers. … An accepted list of approved callers can breakthrough to deliver an audio message to the user such as a parent wishing to contact their child driver.

DriveAssist uses GPS to determine the user’s “driving context” — as in stopped or in motion. The target customers clearly are “empowered parents” who would require their teenagers to use it, the demo video indicates. The company also cites use by employers.

Aegis is pitching the main wireless carriers, which would have to adopt the technology. The charge would be $10 to $20, a company rep told CNN.

The news broke on the first day of the Driving While Distracted symposium in Washington, D.C.

Text messaging a hot topic after crash

News that text messaging played a role in the deadly L.A. commuter train crash has thrust the practice of texting while driving into the national debate.

(Update) The National Safety Board reported Oct. 1 that engineer Robert Sanchez sent a text message 22 seconds before the crash, after he had sent and received text messages numberous times during his shifts that day. He received a text message 80 seconds before the crash, the NTSB said.

Wireless industry analyst Jack Gold said the widely publicized information that Sanchez had been texting certainly will inspire more legislation against the practice.

The cellular industry “can’t win this one,” Gold told Computerworld shortly after the texting suspicions first were reported. “What politician would vote against a bill against texting while driving if they find a train engineer killed 25 people while texting?”

The New York Times tackled the issue in a front-page article. “Though there are no official casualty statistics, there is much anecdotal evidence that the number of fatal accidents stemming from texting while driving, crossing the street or engaging in other activities is on the rise,” the Times reported.

“We have had far too many tragic incidents around the country that are painful proof that this is a terrible problem,” said California state Sen. Joe Simitian, author of the law banning handheld cell phone use by motorists.

Update: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Simitian’s anti-text messaging bill on Sept. 25. The ban on texting will take effect Jan. 1.

“This is a public-safety crisis, not just good sense,” L.A.’s Daily News editorialized when it called for Schwarzenegger to sign the texting bill.

The new law prohibits driving “while using an electronic wireless communications device to write, send, or read a text-based communication.” The law will “impose a base fine of $20 for a first offense and $50 for each subsequent offense.”

Now six states — Alaska, California, Minnesota, New Jersey, Louisiana and Washington — have outlawed driving and texting. At least 15 other states have texting-related bills up for legislative approval, many of them linked to proposed bans on using cell phones without hands-free devices.

Washington was the first state in the nation to pass legislation banning text messaging while driving. The practice is going by the acronym DWT — driving while texting.

A survey by Nationwide Insurance found that 40% of teenage drivers engage in texting while driving. Overall, about 18% of drivers say they send and receive text messages while on the road. The numbers were collected two years ago, so they no doubt have increased with the popularity of the iPhones and similar multitask cell phones.

The California Public Utilities Commission reacted to the Chatsworth, Calif., train crash by placing an emergency ban on all train personnel using cell phones or other wireless devices while on duty.

The NSB said it would “correlate (Sanchez’s wireless use) with other investigative information to determine as precisely as possible the exact times of those messages in relation to the engineer’s operation of his train.”

Canadian docs want cell phone crackdown

With or without a hands-free device, motorists are at a significantly greater risk of getting into a serious accident when they use a cell phone and drive, a new study says.

The Ontario Medical Association called on its provincial government to enact laws reducing the cell phone dangers. The Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, and Nova Scotia have banned the use of hand-held cell phones.

“Doctors know all too well the consequences of driving while distracted,” OMA president Ken Arnold said.

The group stated: “The OMA has found evidence that cell phone use (regardless of whether it is hands-free or hand-held) has a significant impact on the driver’s cognitive functions, visual concentration, the speed at which they can process information and, as a result, their reaction time.”

The research found that using a cell phone while driving:

• Greatly reduced the driver’s functional field of view
• Changed average driving speed
• Decreased the “safe distance” between vehicles
• Slowed brake reaction time
• Slowed response times to traffic light changes
• Resulted in a 15% increase in non-response to stoplights
• Reduced visual monitoring of mirrors and instruments
• Resulted in fewer inspection glances at traffic lights
• Produced an increased tendency toward hard braking.

The OMA noted it is clear that any activity such as dialing, typing or reading a text message is unsafe for drivers and those around them.

Opponents of cell phone legislation no doubt will point out that this was a “review of literature,” not new research. (Regardless, the OMA story has been getting good play in newspapers and online.)

So why weigh in?

“We believe it is the role of physicians to investigate the health impacts of societal activities, such as driving while using your phone, and to report these publicly,” the OMA said. “Sometimes the evidence is conclusive enough to require physicians to challenge the status quo and champion the health and safety of their patients by calling for legislative action.”

In August 2008, the Alberta Medical Association endorsed a bill that would ban hand-held cell phone use while driving.

The medical association voiced its support before a legislative committee reviewing Bill 204, the Traffic Safety Amendment Act. The Alberta doctors called for outlawing use of hands-free cell phones as well.

That private member’s bill from Calgary Tory MLA Art Johnston was killed by the committee in early October. The panel instead urged remedies that include all major driving distractions.

“I personally think the biggest distraction is a cellphone, and text messaging,” Johnston told the Calgary Herald. “We still have people very, very divided on it, but I believe in it and I’m going to do the best I can until it’s (legislated).”

On Oct. 4, Alberta Tories rejected two resolutions restricting the use of cell phones and other wireless devices while driving. One would have banned all cell phone use by motorists while the other targeted only hand-held cell phones. Premier Ed Stelmach is opposed to cell phone bans, citing the usual array of distracted driving hazards beyond making calls.

The maritime province of Prince Edward Island is debating an islandwide ban on hand-held cell phone use while driving. Transportation and Public Works Minister Ron MacKinley has prepared legislation that also seeks to outlaw text messaging and a variety of other electronic distractions, including use of pagers and iPods.

New Hampshire: Cell phone laws, legislation

Cell phone, texting news: A ban on text messaging went into effect Jan. 1, 2010. The state Senate began its 2010 session on March 31; the House reconvenes April 14.

Current prohibitions:
Text messaging outlawed for all drivers.

No limits on cell phone use.

2010 legislation:
HB 34: Prohibits text messaging and any other use of two hands for typing on an electronic device. Approved in the New Hampshire House and Senate. Signed into law by Gov. John Lynch on July 31 and went into effect Jan. 1, 2010.

HB 294: Would have prohibited text messaging while driving and use of two hands for typing on an electronic device. (Retained in committee as HB 34 advanced.)

Legislation notes:
“It is clear that texting while driving poses a serious danger on our roadways,” Gov. John Lynch said as he approved the anti-texting legislation House Bill 34. “This new law sends a strong message that drivers should be attentive to the road, and those around them at all times.”

The new texting law reads specifically: “A person operating a moving motor vehicle who writes a text message or uses 2 hands to type on or operate an electronic or telecommunications device, is guilty of a violation.” That offense brings a fine of $100.

Rep. Richard Drisko, R-Hollis, saw the amended version of his HB 34 approved by the House on March 24, 2009, on a 222-137 vote. The bill advanced to the Senate, where it was approved by the Transportation Committee in a 5-0 vote on May 14 and then by the full New Hampshire Senate on May 20. The governor signed the bill in late July and it went into effect as 2010 began.

Rep. David Campbell, D-Hillsborough, is the sponsor of HB 294.

HB 1222 sought to prohibit text messaging while driving. It was introduced in the 2008 session, passed in the House and was last seen in the Senate’s Transportation committee.

State Rep. Laura Pantelakos’ 2007 bill seeking to ban use of cell phones without hands-free devices was shelved.

Regarding the state’s Live Free or Die ethic, Pantelakos said: “I can live free, too, and die because someone’s not paying attention,” she said of her cell safety legislation. “I don’t want to see someone killed because a driver was not paying attention.”

Many police cars in New Hampshire are outfitted with voice-activated control systems, freeing up officers’ hands.