Researchers warned of possible roadway “devastation” as a result.

One in five of the dog owners surveyed said that while driving they allowed pets to sit in their laps.

The AAA survey on pets said almost 60 percent of drivers who transport their dogs engaged in other distracted driving behaviors at the same time.

In a bizarre coincidence, an L.A. plastic surgeon died in Malibu not long after Tweeting and texting about about his dog, which was unrestrained in the doctor’s vehicle at the time of the crash. Frank Ryan’s Jeep plunged over a rocky embankment on the Pacific Coast Highway, killing him and pitching the dog into the ocean below. (The animal survived.)

The crash came days before AAA released its pet-owner survey.

The Los Angeles Times reported that crash investigators were trying to determine what role texting played in the accident, if any. The texting connection was widely reported.

The survey by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, backed by the pet product company Kurgo, found that more than half of the drivers petted their animals while on the road. (Kurgo sells restraint products.) A small percentage admitted to feeding their dogs or playing with them while driving.

“An unrestrained 10-pound dog in a crash at 50 mph will exert roughly 500 pounds of pressure, while an unrestrained 80-pound dog in a crash at only 30 mph will exert 2,400 pounds of pressure, said Jennifer Huebner-Davidson, AAA National’s Traffic Safety Programs manager. “Imagine the devastation that can cause to your pet and anyone in the vehicle in its path.”

AAA also listed its top vehicle choices for animal safety.

The survey covered 1,000 dog owners who had driven with their animals on board in the past year.

Ryan was known for his work on celebrities and for his charity efforts in removing tattoos from former L.A. gang members.

“The most common reason listed for a crash was driver inattention, a factor in 36% of pedestrian (killed or seriously injured) crashes,” the report by NYC transportation planners found.

The distracted driving accidents proved to be more than twice as deadly as those with other causes.

The study looked at more than 7,000 crashes in the city between 2002 and 2006. In the four years since that time, “electronic distracted driving has become more pressing as cellphones, computers and other portable devices further distract the driver,” the study noted.

Drivers are barred from using handheld cell phones in New York City, while taxi drivers are not allowed to use any cell phones. (Taxi drivers were involved in only 16 percent of the NYC accidents studied.) “In 2009, the NYPD issued on average 617 summonses a day to drivers using hand-held cell phones,” the transportation researchers said.

Overall, the city’s rate of traffic fatalities continues to decline, with 2009 the best on record.

“In a dense urban environment like New York City, the failure to pay attention to who (and what) is in the road is crucial,” the study concluded. “The streets are consistently populated by a wide range of users (pedestrians, bicyclists, buses, trucks, taxis) all competing for the same roadway space.”

The recommendations in the New York City Pedestrian Safety Study & Action Plan did not address distracted driving, however.

Senate Bill 1475 would have would more than doubled fines on the trio of distracted driving laws that the senator pushed through in recent years. The bill also would have applied the laws against text messaging and use of handheld cell phones to California’s bicyclists.

“The deadline for bills to pass the Appropriations Committee was Aug. 13, and since the cell phone bill did not pass the committee by the deadline, it died there,” said Phil Yost of Simitian’s office.

Simitian, D-Palo Alto, has said compliance with California’s distracted driving laws is good, but “there’s room for improvement.” He was seeking “a more significant deterrent” with the increased distracted driving fines.

California’s ban on text messaging while driving went into effect on Jan. 1, 2009. Fines start at $20 and go to $50 for repeat offenses. With fees, the cost of violating the state text messaging law easily tops $200.

Simitian’s bill for 2010 sought to add a point against driver’s licenses for distracted driving violations. He later amended the bill to make the point apply on the second offense.

Bicyclists groups created the early opposition to the bill, and its proposed fines were lowered in response (to $20/$50 with no points per the amendment of April 6).

California’s brutal budget crisis would have received some help from the doubled fines. The Assembly Committee on Appropriations estimated increased distracted driving fines under Senate Bill 1475 would bring in another $32 million annually.

The widely publicized survey, done for Seventeen magazine and AAA, talked to 2,000 drivers between the ages of 16 and 19.

86 percent of those teens said they engaged in distracted driving at some point. Pretty scary … but let’s take a look at what the survey defined as distracted driving:

The activity drawing the most affirmative responses from the teens (73 percent) was adjusting a radio/CD or MP3 player — an action they have in common with almost every driver on U.S. roads. Consuming food (61 percent) also counted as distracted driving — some truth to that, but no one’s writing laws about driving and eating these days.

Ask adults if they’ve engaged in these behaviors and you’d get an almost universal yes. Headline that report as “99.9% of Adults Distracted Drivers.”

Teens’ use of handheld cell phones — a distracted driving behavior in anyone’s book — came in at 60 percent, a number that seems more in tune with reality. Texting registered 28 percent, which seems low but remember the teens are self-reporting.

Teens say they feel singled out when it comes to legislating drivers’ cell phone use and text messaging. Perhaps that’s a necessary evil, but inflated numbers such as those being headlined in this survey do little to advance the national discussion about teens and distracted driving.

Mainstream media such as USA Today should know better — although we’ve had problems with that newspaper’s sloppy reporting on this issue before. Remember “USA Today botches cell phone report“?

Here are some more numbers from Seventeen/AAA:

Teens who did text behind the wheel averaged 23 messages a month.

84 percent of the teenage drivers said they were aware that these behaviors were dangerous. Those teens explained their reasoning as their actions will only take a split second (41 percent); they don’t think they’ll get hurt (35 percent); they’re used to multitasking (34 percent); and they don’t think that anything bad will happen to them (32 percent).

Nearly four out of 10 of the teens said they’ve been afraid of being hurt while riding with a distracted driver, and more than a third said they had almost been in an accident due to distracted driving.

Seventeen is promoting its “Two-Second Turnoff Day” (Sept. 17) and is asking readers to put together anti-distracted driving videos for the occasion.

DOT chief Ray LaHood sent out the call to transportation officials, safety advocates, law enforcement, mobile phone and auto industry reps, safety researchers, and those whose lives have been shattered by distracted drivers. The event will be in Washington, D.C.

LaHood, who has seen his personal brand soar with his campaigning on the distracted driving issue, says a new national summit is needed:

“We’ve learned a lot in the past year, but there is plenty of new information to share. … With 6,000 people being killed annually by distracted driving and more than half a million others being injured — we can’t afford to be satisfied,” LaHood wrote on his “Fast Lane” DOT blog.

“We’re not about to rest now,” LaHood wrote.

The DOT pointed to these accomplishments since the 2009 Distracted Driving Summit:

• Dozens of new state and local distracted driving laws and bills.
• The texting and driving ban for federal workers.
• Establishment of the Focus Driven advocacy group.
• The U.N. “Global Call” for an end to distracted driving.
• Pilot enforcement sweeps in Hartford and Syracuse (currently under way).

Certainly there’s a need: So far this year there have been 17,535 crashes in the Show Me State where distracted driving was cited as a contributing cause.

The highway patrol even arranged for a race car to bear the logo for the no-texting campaign, one of those red-cross-out designs that says “no texting.” Want a decal for your very own car? They’re free to the public as window clingers.

One slight problem. If you’re a driver 21 or older in Missouri, feel free to text to your heart’s content. It’s perfectly legal. Same with cell phone use while driving, which has killed at least eight people on state roads since Jan. 1.

The highway patrol explains, sort of:

The campaign complements Missouri’s current anti-texting law, which prohibits use of cell phones or texting devices for drivers 21 years of age and younger. (We call on) all Missouri drivers to honor the letter and the spirit of the law — regardless of age — and stop texting while driving to help make Missouri’s highways safer for all motorists.

We’re reminded of the recent Pew survey that concluded adults are just as likely to text and drive as teenagers. Texting doesn’t seem to level off until drivers are in their mid-30s.

Of course, state troopers don’t make laws, they enforce them. But consider that the various efforts to expand the texting ban to all drivers failed in Missouri’s last legislative session. The primary reason — make that, excuse? Law agencies’ complaints that enforcement would be too difficult.

The House Public Safety Committee chairman, Mark Bruns, in fact, blocked all text messaging legislation that came through his domain because “too many questions remain on how to enforce it properly.”

The highway patrol’s chief of staff attended one texting while driving hearing before Bruns and said the law agency had no position on a texting ban. But the spokesman noted that the highway patrol promoted safety.

Public safety campaigns are no substitute for laws against deadly behaviors.

The highway patrol needs to help quash talk of enforcement woes and embrace all-ages bans on handheld electronic devices.

Lawmakers need to follow the lead of distracted driving opponents such as Rep. Rodney Schad and state Sen. Ryan McKenna, who see “an epidemic” of texting on state roads and highways.

Come on, Missouri. Show us something real. Then play with race cars.

The would-be DRIVE Coalition withdrew its proposal for a corporate-backed campaign after the DOT’s Ray LaHood blasted the initiative at a press conference, dubbing it “a new effort to rile up corporate America and undermine the achievements of our campaign against distracted driving.”

A spokesman for DRIVE said it had achieved the goal of expanding the distracted driving debate beyond electronic devices. The lobbyists had called the tech and auto industries “collateral damage” in the national movement to rein in distracted drivers.

News of the proposal from the Seward Square Group made national headlines last week after an investigative web site posted the group’s recruitment pitch to wireless, tech, insurance and auto companies.

The media-conscious LaHood quickly scheduled a press conference for after the holiday break.

At Wednesday’s DOT press conference, LaHood revisited the dangers of telephoning while driving, saying 28 percent of wrecks were linked to cell phones. “To suggest (cell phone use is not dangerous) is to put your head in the sand. To spend considerable resources to suggest otherwise is a glaring waste.

“That’s why I was stunned to read that anyone would organize an effort to undercut road safety, much less declare that the ‘auto, tech, and insurance industries have become collateral damage.’ ”

Jim Hall, who headed the National Transportation Safety Board for the Clinton administration, attended the press conference to deny the DRIVE coalition’s claim that he would have spearheaded the campaign, saying his views were misrepresented. Hall, however, does work with the Seward Square Group.

Considering the publicity generated by the plan, it’s not surprising that Babak Zafarnia, the would-be coalition’s spokesman, declared a victory of sorts:

“We are pleased that the concept has met its goal of expanding dialogue on distracted driving, therefore the proposed coalition is no longer being pursued,” he said in a statement. “We commend Secretary LaHood for his leadership in bringing a comprehensive view to this complex issue.”

Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co. said it will add a “do not disturb” function to its Sync communications system. The intent is to block functions “that are not relevant to the task of driving while the vehicle is in motion,” Ford said.

That includes incoming phone calls and text messages, which are routed for later access.

The do not disturb button will be added to the carmaker’s controversial My Ford Touch system (an upgraded Sync), which includes a Web browser. Ford said drivers won’t be able to use its Internet functions while in motion. Typing on a keyboard and entering destination details on GPS also are blocked to drivers.

LaHood recently expressed concerns about the new media applications being added to motor vehicles in an effort to please the wired generations.

July 7 update: The lobbyists abandoned the effort to derail distracted driving laws after a scolding from U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The lobbyists said they had succeeded in opening up the debate — at any rate they succeeded in attracting a lot of publicity /update

Oprah Winfrey and the DOT’s LaHood are seen as threats to the mobile communications industry, according to the 10-page memo obtained by the FairWarning investigative site. The memo cites a “full-throttle assault on mobile technology,” the FairWarning report says.

The Washington Post identified the lobbyists behind the push as Seward Square Group and Eris Group. Eris, however, told the Post that it had withdrawn from the effort due to client conflicts.

In response to the memo, a DOT spokesman told the Post: “We are doing everything possible to combat talking on the phone and texting while driving and others who care about safety will join our effort — not undermine it.”

DRIVE — which stands for “Drivers for Responsibility, Innovation and Vehicle Education” — plans to advocate awareness instead of laws and legislation, FairWarning reports. Spearheading the campaign would be James E. Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board for the Clinton administration, the memo says.

GPS makers, insurance companies and public safety groups also were targeted for the push, the Post said.

Georgia, Michigan, Iowa and Wyoming all saw their legislature’s distracted driving plans become effective July 1.

Across the states, drivers fretted over what was allowed and what was not, and law officers raised the usual concerns about enforcement.

In Michigan, a spokesman for the police chiefs association wasn’t happy: “It’s going to be very difficult for us,” he said.

But in Iowa, a Sioux City officer said, “We’ve all seen people driving and texting — it’s pretty obvious what they’re doing.”

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue also had his doubts about enforcing a ban on text messaging while behind the wheel. He signed the “Caleb Sorohan Act for Saving Lives by Preventing Texting While Driving” after raising the specter of a veto. (Sorohan was a teen killed in a texting-related crash.)

Safety advocates, lawmakers and students lobbied furiously in the final days of the legislative session for Perdue to sign the bill, which he did with no time to spare.

Texting and driving now merits a ticket in Georgia. Drivers under the age of 18 also are prohibited from using cell phones, regardless of whether a hands-free device is attached. Violations of the new distracted driving laws bring a $150 fine.

Join the debate over Georgia’s new texting and cell phone laws.

Michigan’s governor gladly signed that state’s new distracted driving laws. Gov. Jennifer Granholm even enacted the no-texting-while driving bills into law on a “No Phone Zone” special on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

In Michigan, text messaging has been outlawed for all drivers. Fines are $100 (first offense) and then $200.

Read more about Michigan’s distracted driving laws.

In Iowa, violators are off the hook for a year, during a legislature-mandated education period. After that, fines begin at $30 and go up to $1,000 for those causing a serious accident while texting.

Iowa banned text messaging for all drivers and prohibited teens with restricted licenses from using all handheld electronic devices while behind the wheel.

Enforcement for adults is “secondary,” meaning police need another reason to stop violators before writing the citation. Teen offenders (14-18) can be pulled over and cited for violations without other cause, however. Mandating secondary enforcement generally is seen as watering down distracted driving laws.

Read about Iowa’s distracted driving laws.

In Wyoming, an effort to water down the new text messaging law was defeated in the legislative process. So as of July 1, distracted drivers face primary enforcement with fines of $75.

Sen. Floyd Esquibel, D-Cheyenne, said that while his newly minted law banning text messaging does apply to all drivers, it is aimed at the generation hooked on texting. The new law is “primarily for an age group that is already at high risk simply because of age,” he said after the measure was approved.

Latest news on Wyoming’s ban on text messaging.

Prospects for distracted driving legislation in South Dakota next session: murky at best.

But the state has a PSA.

Better than nothing.