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.

A texting ban in N.Y., finally

New York’s Senate has approved a ban on text messaging for all drivers, in a vote that was long in coming for a state that was one of the pioneers of cell phone safety behind the wheel.

The Senate vote — which applied to larger legislation concerning teenage driving laws — was 57-1. The state Assembly’s vote of June 17 was unanimous.

The New York ban on text messaging by motorists is expected to take effect on Nov. 1, assuming Gov. David Paterson signs it, as expected. The bill originated with his motor vehicle department.

The texting legislation had been in limbo due to the state Senate’s long power struggle, resolved in recent days. It calls for fines of $150.

Under the bill, banned activities related to handheld electronic devices include reading or sending text messages, sending or receiving images, surfing the Net and playing video games.

Because of the years-long inaction on text messaging, counties across New York State had enacted or considered texting bans of their own. The statewide prohibition will supersede these regional New York laws against texting and driving. (View the New York local texting laws.)

Texting by teenage drivers has been a hot-button issue in New York for several years, since the highway deaths of 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.

Ironically, the successful texting and driving legislation was pushed through by Assembly transportation chief David Gantt, D-Rochester, who has been widely blamed for playing politics with the safety issue.

New York has enforced a statewide ban on drivers’ use of handheld cell phones since 2001.

Two years later, no N.Y. texting ban

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 effect Nov. 1.)

Just days ago, Broome County and Ulster County enacted laws against texting while driving. Earlier in the month, Greene and Dutchess counties approved bans on using wireless devices to send text messages and email. No doubt the looming anniversary played some role in getting these bans approved.

The state was among the first in the nation to adopt a cell phone ban, back in 2001, but text messaging and emailing behind the wheel were not significant factors at the time.

The state Assembly and Senate have taken turns blocking and ignoring text messaging legislation. This month, a plan backed by Assembly Transportation chief David Gantt – ironically, a longtime impediment to a texting ban — has advanced to the Senate, where it’s blowing in the political winds.

Clearly, local politicians are doing the job of state legislators who either fail to recognize the tragic toll of texting while driving, or fail to act. In no other state is the divide so vast between what citizens want on this issue and what state politicians do.

N.Y. Assembly OKs texting ban

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 incorporated into A8568.

Under the bill, banned activities related to handheld electronic devices include reading or sending text messages, sending or receiving images, surfing the Net and playing video games.

The bill was spearheaded by Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman David Gantt, D-Rochester, who has been widely cited as an impediment to a New York text messaging ban. New York has enforced a statewide ban on drivers’ use of handheld cell phones since 2001.

In the absence of action from Albany, many cities and counties in New York have adopted their own bans on text messaging while behind the wheel. (View the New York local texting laws.) The plan is to continue these local bans until Nov. 1, when the state law would supersede them.

Gantt infuriated legislators a few weeks ago as he refused to meet with a mother whose son died as he was texting and driving. New York has suffered a string of tragic accidents linked to teenagers texting while driving.

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