Gov. Mary Fallin signs Oklahoma's texting & driving legislation into law May 5. Members of the families of state Troopers Nicholas Dees and Keith Burch stood by her side. Dees was killed in late January in a roadway incident officials linked to a distracted driver; Burch was seriously injured and could not attend due to his condition. The bill was named after the lawmen. Dees' father, a retired trooper, attended the signing ceremony along with the slain trooper's widow. Burch was represented by his wife. Oklahoma's new texting law goes into effect Nov. 1 with $100 fines. Read more about … [Read more...]
Mississippi’s Facebook face-plant
March 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Mississippi appears ready to leave the ranks of states with toothless distracted driving laws, by finally approving a texting & driving bill that includes all motorists, regardless of age. Great news. Perhaps Mississippi will get off that rogue's roundup of states with the lamest traffic laws, prepared annually by the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety group. But it'll go kicking and screaming from our "dumb-and-dumber states" list. The plan sent to the governor March 10 includes a curious ban on handheld use of "social networking sites" -- meaning only those web sites on which users … [Read more...]
‘Selfies’ led to Cessna crash, feds say
February 4, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The story remains yet to written about "selfies" and distracted driving, but safety experts have no doubts the craze for cell phone photography is contributing to the crash total on the nation's highways. And in its airways, apparently. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation of a May crash in Colorado found that the pilot and passenger apparently died because they were busy taking selfies. "A postaccident examination of the airplane did not reveal any preimpact anomalies that would have precluded normal operation," the NTSB report said of the crash of a two-seat Cessna 150. … [Read more...]
No texting admission, no ticket
December 14, 2014 by 1 Comment
The Washington Traffic Safety Commission is busy trying to push through a legislative rewrite of the state's outdated distracted driving law, which limits itself to texting while behind the wheel. The panel just released an online video that shows officers pulling over a pair of distracted drivers. Both drivers explain away their actions as something other than texting. One man says he was entering GPS data into a smartphone; another guy who was weaving repeatedly into a bike lane beats the ticket by saying he was checking his currency-trading updates. "Everything else you can do on your … [Read more...]
Jenner’s distracted driving party
July 30, 2014 by 1 Comment
Another celebrity is taking heat for distracted driving, this time reality star Kendall Jenner. Jenner posted an Instagram video that showed her and model pal Ashley Skye getting down to Avril Lavigne's "Sk8er boy" while cruising through heavy traffic in L.A. The ladies are dancing in their seats, pointing and looking at each other as they sing along to the summer of 2002 hit, which came out when they were something like 7 years old. They pass through a pedestrian crosswalk and scoot past vehicles slowed in traffic on both sides of their vehicle. "Being uber girly," Jenner's post … [Read more...]
Recent Comments