Distracted parents driving teens to texting

Teenagers tend to follow their parents’ lead when it comes to driving … and texting?

NPR’s “Morning Edition” just did a segment on teens, texting and distracted driving, citing anecdotal evidence that youth who see their parents engaged in dangerous behaviors while behind the wheel see that as a green light to do the same.

One teen told NPR: “If a parent is always on their cell phone, the teen’s like, oh, it’s fine. My parents do it all the time. And if their parents haven’t crashed, then it’s kind of like, okay. It’s not going to happen.”

Amanda Lenhart of the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project surveyed 800 teens and their parents about text messagng behind the wheel.

“(Teens) would tell stories about their parents’ texting with the phone while trying to drive with their knees,” Lenhart said on the radio feature. “They would talk about other ways in which parents were distracted behind the wheel, including using GPS or trying to use a walkie-talkie function on a phone, or make calls.”

And some of those kids say they’re downright scared of riding with their distracted parents, the NPR feature said.

Lenhart’s study “Teens and Mobile Phones” (April 20) found that daily text messaging among U.S. teens soared in a recent 18-month period, from 38% to 54%. Older teenage girls were the busiest texters, the Pew study found, sending an average of 100 messages a day.

One in three teens admitted to texting while driving, while 52% of teens who have cell phones said they had talked while behind the wheel.

Lynn Neary’s radio report was part of the “Today in Your Health” series.

Listen to the NPR report on teens, parents and texting.
Read the “Working to Stop Teens Texting Behind the Wheel” transcript.

Iowa texting ban takes effect July 1

Iowa became the 21st state to ban text messaging while driving as Gov. Chet Culver signed the plan into law.

The state’s public safety commissioner then presented the governor with a coffee mug that said: “Don’t Drive Intexticated.”

“We want to be the very best state in America when it comes to safe roads,” Culver said — although the Iowa texting ban was watered down to secondary-enforcement status as it made its way through the Legislature. (The measure was a compromise by the House and Senate.)

The law’s additional ban on use of all handheld electronic devices by teen drivers with learner’s permits carries primary enforcement, however, meaning police can stop and cite violators for that reason alone. With the secondary enforcement, motorists can’t be stopped simply for texting.

The law begins July 1, with a one-year warning (education) period.

Meanwhile, Kentucky legislators also approved a similar ban on texting and teen use of cell phones. The bill was sent to the governor on April 1 and is guaranteed his signature.

Iowa safety commissioner Eugene Meyer said at the signing: “We’ve now eliminated a very important distraction. Our roads are going to be dramatically safer.”

The law prohibits local governments from adopting stricter bans. Dubuque recently adopted a such a law, with the mayor noting the lack of state laws. “If we have to be the leaders, then we have to be the leaders,” he said at the time. Local lawmakers in some states with secondary enforcement mandate primary enforcement for their area.

“It’s a common-sense, bipartisan bill that will save lives, and keep Iowa drivers safe — especially our young people,” the Iowa governor said at the signing ceremony. He was joined by state troopers and police officers, as well as Democratic and Republican legislators who backed the bipartisan distracted driving bill (HF 2456)

72 percent of adults surveyed earlier in the year by the Iowa Poll/Des Moines Register responded that text messaging on the road should be a priority during the legislative season.

“The people of Iowa have had it,” said Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City. “They don’t want people texting and driving.”

Wyoming to round up texting drivers

Wyoming became the 20th state to ban text messaging while driving, as its governor signed legislation that will go into effect on July 1.

The anti-texting legislation (Senate File 20), was sponsored by Sen. Floyd Esquibel, D-Cheyenne, who has authored multiple distracted driving bills in the past.

The law calls for primary enforcement (police can stop and cite violators when spotted) with fines of $75.

Esquibel noted that his newly minted law does apply to all drivers, it is mostly aimed at the young generation that’s hooked on texting. It’s “primarily for an age group that is already at high risk simply because of age,” the state senator said after the measure was approved.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal agreed that teen drivers are the most likely group to engage in texting while driving.

“Wyoming has taken an important step to eliminate distracted driving,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Texting while driving, like talking on cell phones while driving, is dangerous to the driver doing it and all of those around them.”

The distracted driving law won final approval in the House on March 3 and the governor signed the measure a week later.

Fed workers banned from texting, driving

President Obama has ordered federal employees to stop text messaging while driving on the job.

The news was announced Thursday by Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, left, as he spoke on the final day of the DOT’s distracted driving summit.

“Text messaging causes drivers to take their eyes off the road and at least one hand off the steering wheel, endangering both themselves and others,” the president said as he signed the three-page executive order.

The ban did not include limits on drivers talking on handheld cell phones, echoing the year’s trend in state legislatures.

The ban is identical to the one that went into effect several weeks ago at the National Transportation Safety Board.

Federal employees are prohibited from texting while driving government-owned vehicles or cell phones, or while conducting U.S. business while in their personal cars, or while using federal cell phones.

“This meeting is probably the most important meeting in the history of the Department of Transportation,” LaHood told the conference audience of safety experts, legislators, telcom execs and family members of those killed by texters.

The ban on text messaging by federal staffers is now in effect. The president signed the order Wednesday night, the New York Times reported.

Sure to be much more controversial is a forthcoming ban on interstate truckers and bus drivers. The New York Times also reported Thursday on the phenomenon of cars used as offices, as well as truckers and the computers that they use in their cabs.

Distracted driving summit starts Wednesday

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s summit on distracted driving begins Wednesday, bringing more than 200 experts to Washington to address the problems of texting and using cell phones while on the road.

The summit was inspired by the growing national alarm over the problems of inattentive driving, primarily the potentially deadly practice of text messaging while driving, a practice seen as common among young adults.

The public is invited to view the summit online and to submit questions for the panelists. View the page for the distracted driving webcast.

The DOT will issue a series of actions to deal with the crisis once it hears from the gathering of senior transportation officials, safety advocates, law enforcement representatives, members of Congress and academics who study distracted driving.

The DOT outlined the two-day summit’s agenda like so:

Day 1: A context setting panel where participants will examine the scope of the issue and the various distractions that exist, followed by a panel that will review currently available research. The day wraps with an examination of distractions caused by technology and efforts made to assess and reduce negative effects caused by current and planned devices. Panelists will also consider technology that can prevent the consequences of driver distraction.

Day 2: A review of legislative and regulatory approaches for dealing with distracted driving; evaluations of the impact of such measures; and enforcement issues. Members of Congress and their staff will also have the opportunity to contribute to the discussion. The day concludes with a discussion with teens about their experiences with distracted driving followed by an examination of various public awareness initiatives and research regarding the effectiveness of these efforts.

“The public is sick and tired of people being distracted and causing accidents,” DOT chief Ray LaHood said at an early August press conference announcing the federal summit. “We all know texting while driving is dangerous and we are going to do something about it so that responsible drivers don’t have to worry about it when they or a loved one get on the road.”

Read the full agenda for the distracted driving summit.

Text messaging video sobering, stunning

The Utah texting tragedy that saw two scientists lose their lives has inspired a remarkable 15-minute documentary that should be seen by everyone who uses handheld portable electronic devices.

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.

Lower Chichester talks tough on texting

The blah blah blah over text messaging and driving gets pretty tiresome: How could any law possibly be enforced? What about my civil liberties? Yadda yadda. We’ve heard it all by now.

Meet a lawmaker in Pennsylvania who is mad as hell about texting and is not going to take it anymore.

The president of the township commission in Lower Chichester, Rocco Gaspari Jr., had this to say Monday after the body voted to ban text messaging for all drivers, effective immediately:

“Text messaging now supersedes drugs and alcohol for causing the most accidents in the United States. Something needs to be done and I won’t wait for someone in Harrisburg to get off their butt to tell everyone across the commonwealth that text messaging is dangerous. If anybody wants to debate this we can go out on the lawn, have a coffee or soda and have a discussion. Our police department will enforce this and if anybody doesn’t like it, don’t tell us that it can’t be enforced.”

Gaspari continued like so, according to the Delaware County Daily Times:

“Our job is to protect the health, safety and welfare of our residents. Nobody can tell us what we can and can’t do in our town. Nobody!”

Harrisburg, of course, not only wants to tell Gaspari’s Commission what to do, but also the mayor of Philadelphia. The legislature has threatened Mayor Mike Nutter and his city with millions in lost highway funding if it does not abandon its cell phone and driving law, adopted in late April.

Lower Chichester already regulates the use of handheld cell phones.

DOT calls texting, cell phone summit

A national summit on the issue of drivers’ use of cell phones and text messaging devices has been set by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The gathering of senior transportation officials, safety advocates, law enforcement representatives, members of Congress and academics who study distracted driving will be “in late September,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Tuesday.

“I’m against texting but I’m not going to pre-judge the summit,” LaHood later said in a Twitter entry.

The DOT will announce a series of actions to deal with the distracted driving crisis after the summit.

“The public is sick and tired of people being distracted and causing accidents,” LaHood said at a press conference announcing the federal summit. “We all know texting while driving is dangerous and we are going to do something about it so that responsible drivers don’t have to worry about it when they or a loved one get on the road.”

Update: View the agenda for the DOT summit on distracted driving.

The DOT move follows a month of revelations regarding text messaging and cell phone use by drivers. The New York Times detailed how the dangers of cell phone use were covered up earlier in the decade by federal researchers. Then, a Virginia Tech study reported that truckers who were text messaging were 23 times more likely to get into wrecks than those who were not.

A wave of newspaper editorials followed these reports, calling for state legislators to take action.

A group of Democratic senators have proposed a federal cutoff of highway funding for states that fail to address text messaging and driving within the next two years.

The federal government cannot outright ban texting while driving because highway issues are in the states’ jurisdiction.

“If it were up to me, I would ban drivers from texting, but unfortunately, laws aren’t always enough,” LaHood (pictured, above) said in a statement. “We’ve learned from past safety awareness campaigns that it takes a coordinated strategy combining education and enforcement to get results. That’s why this meeting with experienced officials, experts and law enforcement will be such a crucial first step in our efforts to put an end to distracted driving.”

Details of the still-in-development summit will be available on a DOT web page and on Twitter (http://twitter.com/distractdriving).

New Hampshire texting ban now law

New Hampshire drivers can no longer legally text message and drive come Jan. 1.

Gov. John Lynch signed legislation Friday that prohibits using two hands to type on an electronic device. Entering numbers on a cell phone is allowable.

“It is clear that texting while driving poses a serious danger on our roadways. This new law sends a strong message that drivers should be attentive to the road, and those around them at all times,” Lynch said.

Meanwhile, in Oregon, Gov. Ted Kulongoski has signed off on HB 2377, which bans texting for drivers and also limits use of cell phones to adult motorists, only if they employ hands-free attachments.

The New Hampshire anti-texting measure, House Bill 34, 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 text messaging safety measure 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.

Read more about New Hampshire text messaging and cell phone laws.

Nationwide ban on texting proposed

States would be required to prohibit text messaging for all drivers or face a loss of a quarter of their federal highway money, under a U.S. Senate bill introduced by four Democrats.

Fourteen states have outlawed text messaging by drivers so far. The so-called ALERT Act gives the other states two years to enact bans on texting for all drivers, with the clock ticking once the federal Transportation Department issues guidelines.

The state bans would have to cover all drivers of motor vehicles — including truckers and school bus drivers — as well as operators of mass transit systems.

“The legislation will send an important message to drivers across the country: Get your hands off the cell phone and back on the wheel,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York. “When drivers have their eyes on their cell phones instead of the road, the results can be dangerous and even deadly.”

Schumer (pictured) officially announced the plan Wednesday. He said states that fail to act by the deadline could regain their federal funding once they ban texting and driving.

The other senators are Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey; Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana; and Kay Hagan, D-North Carolina.

They pointed to the Virginia Tech text messaging study released a day before that indicated professional truck drivers were 23 times more likely to get into crashes while texting. Introduction of the bill also follows revelations that the federal government concealed the dangers of cell phone use in vehicles.

The federal government cannot outright ban texting while driving because highway issues are in the states’ jurisdiction. The act was patterned after the federal effort on drinking ages.

Schumer, ironically, is from New York, a state that led the way in handheld cell phone legislation for drivers, but whose legislators delayed and resisted a popular texting ban until earlier this summer.

ALERT stands for the Avoiding Life Endangering and Reckless Texting By Drivers Act.

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