This weekend marks the second anniversary of the horrific crash that killed five teenage girls from the Rochester, N.Y., area. Investigators found that the driver was text messaging just before the girls' SUV collided with a truck. New York's cities and counties have been actively banning text messaging by drivers in the years since the crash. Ontario County, where the teenagers' crash occurred, outlawed texting while driving in April. (July 17 update: A ban on texting while driving has been approved by the Senate and Assembly, and now awaits the governor's signature. It is expected to take … [Read more...]
Archives for June 2009
Car-crash scene no thriller
June 26, 2009 by Leave a Comment
There's a new release in the genre of scary PSAs about teens who text message while driving. Students from Treorchy Comprehensive School in Wales worked on the half-hour film "Cow," which tracks the character Cassie Cowan and her friends as they tempt fate in various ways while behind the wheel -- speeding, drunken driving. The final flirtation with death comes as the kids send and read text messages on a handheld phone. The results are horrific; the message is clear. A Florida foundation recently produced a similar text messaging video, with an almost identical ending. Fade to … [Read more...]
N.Y. Assembly OKs texting ban
June 17, 2009 by 1 Comment
The drawn-out drama over a statewide New York ban on text messaging while driving could be headed for a happy ending. The New York Assembly on June 17 approved a bill that bans texting while on the road. Assembly Bill 8568 also places more restrictions on teen drivers. Violations would bring a $150 fine. "I'm optimistic that we will get it done as soon as the Senate reconvenes," said Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, D-Brooklyn, referring to a leadership battle that has paralyzed the upper legislative body. Ortiz (pictured) saw his stalled text-messaging legislation get new life as it was … [Read more...]
‘Death by Cell Phone’ campaign
June 17, 2009 by 3 Comments
The National Safety Council is following up on its sobering "Death by Cell Phone" video by placing roadside billboards in 67 markets nationwide. The campaign's message will reach more than 1 million drivers, the NSC predicts. The campaign tells of two deaths linked to cell phone-using drivers: Joe, a 12-year-old from Michigan and Linda, a 61-year-old from Oklahoma. The "Death by Cell Phone" billboards show pictures of the two victims of distracted driving, and give the URL for the 5-minute video. The father of Joe and the daughter of Linda speak of their families' tragedies and make pleas … [Read more...]
Boston fires cell-phoning driver
June 14, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Employees of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority are having a tough time grasping the concept of absolutely no cell phones on the job. In early June, The Boston transit agency suspended its first worker for a violation of its strict cell phone policy. He exited a train wearing a Bluetooth wireless device and had a cell phone in a bag. A second offense means termination. Now comes word that a bus driver found a way to bypass the MBTA policy. He stopped his bus, borrowed a cell phone from a passenger and then started yapping away. As he wandered on and off the bus with the … [Read more...]
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