Another reason for optimism, it might seem: 3,092 people died in accidents connected with distracted driving, down significantly from 2009′s 5,474 fatalities.

But the bad news lurks in the detail, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration changed its method of tracking distracted driving accidents.

“All of our evidence suggests that the problem may actually be getting worse,” says federal DOT chief Ray LaHood (pictured). The explanation: “We’ve narrowed the potential distractions included” in order to more accurately report on major distracted behaviors.

The new tracking category is called “distraction-affected crashes.” The indicator was introduced for 2010′s report in order to focus on activities such as dialing a mobile phone or sending texts while driving, LaHood wrote on his DOT blog, Fast Lane.

LaHood also took care to point out that the number of distracted driving reports is limited by the need in many cases for drivers to self-report their unsafe behavior. The DOT chief, no doubt, is bracing for attacks by critics of distracted driving prohibitions, some of whom will use the lower number of deaths to argue that the problem is not significant.

The 2010 number for overall fatalities was 32,885, the NHTSA numbers show. The decline in U.S. roadway deaths from 2009 was almost 3 percent. About 2.24 million were injured, down slightly from ’09.

AT&T’s “The Last Text” video — professionally produced and impactful — spends time with those affected by a handful of text messaging deaths: The sister who sent the fatal text; the youth who hit and killed a bicyclist; the passenger declared dead but who survived in a broken body; the mom of teen girl who throws a 19th birthday party for her dead daughter.

“All because of a senseless text message,” says a state trooper at the site of a girl’s distracted driving death. “It’s just sad. … What is worth losing your life over? That text message?”

Here is the AT&T video, released just before the most dangerous night of the year, New Year’s Eve (text continues below):

AT&T, one of the nation’s top cellular phone service providers, released the short documentary Dec. 27 as part of its “It Can Wait” texting safety program. The video will be distributed “to numerous government agencies and safety organizations around the country, as well as to educators, students and policymakers,” the telcom giant said in a press release. An accompanying video (on the AT&T site) shows students’ reactions to the video.

“The Last Text” has gone viral, but can be seen on the AT&T Facebook page and on the corporate Youtube channel.

The “It Can Wait” campaign began in March, as public awareness of distracted driving deaths skyrocketed.

A funeral was held this week for a teenager who died in a New Brunswick texting-and-driving accident. He was sending a text message when he lost control of his car and crashed into a rock wall. … A 17-year-old girl died after she drove into a ditch and rolled her car because she was distracted while sending a text message, Iowa investigators say. … An Arden, N.C., teenager killed in a car crash was retrieving a text message in the seconds before she veered across the center line and into oncoming traffic, police said. … Eight young people from Western New York have lost their lives in texting-and-driving related accidents in the last three years, the latest a college student from Sanborn who died in a one-vehicle accident.

A Baraboo, Wisc., woman who died when her car plowed into a truck was text messaging at the time of the accident, officials said. She was pronounced dead at the scene. … The death of a young landscaper in Edmunton was caused by a distracted driver who didn’t even realize she had hit a person, according to a report. Witnesses said the woman got out of her car while texting on her cellphone. … A preschool teacher from Fort Morgan, Colo., was texting-while-driving when she crashed her truck and died. Officials said there was a 49-second gap between the time when the 23-year-old sent her last text and the first 911 call of the accident.

A Georgia teenager died after crashing head-on into a another car while sending a text message. His grandmother said he sent six texts just minutes before the collision. … A hit-and-run driver who killed a Vancouver teacher was texting and smoking a cigar at the time. He was sentenced to five years in prison. … A musician on his way to a show was killed in a one-car wreck Saturday while sending a text message, the Washington County coroner said. … A businessman died while riding his bicycle after a driver reaching for her cell phone struck him as he rode along an Arizona road, police said.

A 16-year-old Stanley girl crashed while writing a text message to her mother and died Sunday night, witnesses and investigators said. … A Bartow man was texting while driving when he hit a garbage truck and caused a worker to lose both his legs, prosecutors said. … A 17-year-old who crashed his car when he went to pick up his ringing cellphone has died of his injuries, according to authorities in Ontario. … Investigators said a 19-year-old northeast Kansas woman killed in a car accident was texting while driving. …. Police say a British Columbia man was text messaging while driving just before he was killed in a crash on the Trans-Canada Highway.

A Bainbridge man was sentenced to jail for severely injuring a woman while he was texting and driving. The man said he had earbuds in while listening to music and sending a text message at the time. “I want my brain back, it’s not good now, I had a good brain,” the victim told the court. … A Lebanon, Pa., college athlete was struck and killed after a driver dropped her iPod and was picking it up when she lost control of her car and crossed two lanes of traffic, hitting the pedestrian. … A 19 year-old in Utah died after being thrown from his car. Police believe he was texting just moments before the crash. They found a partially finished text message on his cell phone.

Also: Read our roundup of distracted driving deaths from May 2009.

FocusDriven describes itself as “an advocacy group for victims of motor vehicle crashes involving drivers using cell phones.” The founders (pictured) all lost family members to crashes caused by drivers who were distracted by their cell phones.

The group’s mission recalls that of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

They include president Jennifer Smith, who lost her mother to a distracted driver in Oklahoma City. Smith has been a frequent speaker at governmental hearings, including last fall’s DIstracted Driver Summit.

Founding director Shelley Forney started her fight against cell phone use and driving after her 9-year-old daughter was killed in Fort Collins, inspiring Colorado’s “Erica’s Law” legislation. She, too, has been active in testifying as to dangers of cell phone use while driving.

The top of the FocusDriven web site features pictures of the founders’ relatives who died in cell phone-caused crashes.

The group was formed, in part, because of the National Safety Council’s call for a victim support organization. DOT chief Ray LaHood announced formation of the group on Jan. 12.

“I’m deeply impressed by (the founders’) commitment to turn these tragic events into positive actions that will help save lives,” LaHood said. “Their stories are not just heartbreaking; they’re also a clear and compelling call to action.

“Just as groups like MADD changed attitudes about drunk driving, I believe FocusDriven can help raise awareness and change the way people think about distracted driving.”

Victims of cell phone accidents and those seeking to prevent them can interact with FocusDriven on its website.

The New York Times recently profiled the case of Reggie Shaw, a college student who was text messaging as he lost control of his SUV and killed the rocket scientists, who were on their way to work. Shaw received a month in jail and 100 hours of community service, an incredibly light sentence that inspired new Utah laws that could add up to 15 years in prison for a texting-related vehicular homicide.

The somber and unsettling video visits with Shaw and the widows of his two victims, as well as the officer, prosecutor and judge who handled the case. The film needs no scare tactics to make its point; the glimpse of these shattered lives gets the message across.

View the complete text messaging fatality video on a Utah safety site or see it in two parts below:

Utah’s Department of Transportation reports the texting tragedy video was viewed at least a quarter million times in the three weeks following its Aug. 12 release. It is being shown in driver education classes and will seen at the state’s high school football championship games.

Another texting safety video is getting attention these days. It was made in Wales, with student actors. The PSA takes a more traditional scare approach but is worth a look as well.

The Times calls Utah text-messaging ban “the nation’s toughest law to crack down on texting behind the wheel.”

State Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, says: “It’s a willful act. If you choose to drink and drive or if you choose to text and drive, you’re assuming the same risk.”

The Times noted:

Treating texting behind the wheel like drunken driving raises complex legal questions. Drunken drivers can be identified using a Breathalyzer. But there is no immediate test for driving while texting; such drivers could deny they were doing so, or claim to have been dialing a phone number.

The Times report ties creation of the law to a 2006 wreck caused by a text messaging student, in which two scientists died.

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 temp 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 eternal black.

(Update: A city councilman in Boston cited this video as inspiration for his legislation that would ban text messaging in that city.)

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 for the banning of cell phone use while driving.

The name of the campaign comes from Linda’s daughter Jennifer Smith, who says of her loss: “I just call it death by cell phone.”

Earlier this year, the National Safety Council made news by calling for a total ban on cell phone use by U.S. drivers. (continued)

• Cell phone use is involved in 6 percent of crashes.
• Cell phones are a factor in 636,000 accidents a year.
• 12,000 serious injuries result from talking while driving.
• 2,600 fatalities can be linked to cell phone use by motorists.

Nationwide Insurance and Lamar Advertising are sponsors of the cell phone safety campaign.

The lead item, of course, is the rail crash in Boston, in which 50 people were injured. The operator was text messaging his girlfriend at the time. The incident brought back memories of the deadly Los Angeles rail crash in which the operator was texting friends.

These reports from police and the courts were gathered in the past two weeks.

BOSTON — The Boston transit authority immediately banned operators of train, trolleys and buses from carrying cell phones and personal electronic devices after 49 people were injured when a trolley operator crashed into the rear of another trolley while sending a text message to his girlfriend. It is the most restrictive ban on cell phones by transit workers in the nation. The MBTA already had a campaign against texting, poster pictured. (NYT)

BOSTON — Police are investigating whether a prominent Boston physician was using her BlackBerry when her car swerved into oncoming traffic and collided with another car. Dr. Phyllis Jen died as a result of the crash. Neither speed nor alcohol appeared to be a factor in the accident. Jen was driving a small car that was in the head-on collision with a large SUV. As medical director of Brigham Internal Medicine Associates, Jen supervised nearly 150 doctors. (Information Week)

EDEN, N.Y. — The driver killed in a crash in Eden was texting at the time her vehicle collided with a truck on Route 75, Eden Police Chief Michael Felschow said. Brandie J. Conklin, 22, died after her car drifted across the road and collided with an oncoming milk truck on Route 75. Conklin had been exchanging text messages with a boyfriend who was traveling some distance behind her in another vehicle, according to Felschow. “We checked her text messages,” Felschow said. “She was basically texting up to the time of the accident.” (Buffalo News)

BAINBRIDGE, Ohio — A Kenston Elementary School teacher was found lying in a ditch after being struck by a car whose driver admits he was sending a text message, police say. The driver who struck Kupiec turned himself in, saying he was responding to a text message and did not realize he had hit anyone. (Fox 8 Cleveland)