Some helpful citizens in Delta, British Columbia, tried to warn their fellow distracted drivers that police were writing cell phone tickets ahead. Alas, the RCMP says, many of the yakking & driving motorists in Delta were too distracted to see the red-letter warning sign. "Our members still issued 49 violations," a law officer said. The crudely written sign (what else) reads: "Cops are ahead, get off your phone." Delta is part of metro Vancouver. In February, British Columbia police wrote more than 5,500 tickets for texting & handheld cell phone use, despite the widely publicized … [Read more...]
Teen driver deaths reported up 19%
February 27, 2013 by 4 Comments
Teenage driver deaths are up 19 percent, a new study shows, suggesting that the fatality count for 16- and 17-year old drivers will increase for the second straight year. The Governors Highway Safety Association statistics compared the first halves of 2011 and 2012. (Annual accident reports typically lag well behind the end of the year.) The group said that if final data continued the trend, then 2012 would follow 2011 in posting an increase in teen driver deaths. Before 2011, there were eight straight years of decreases. The GHSA did not indicate distracted driving was a suspect in the … [Read more...]
For Ray LaHood, a standing ovation
January 29, 2013 by 4 Comments
Early critics were amazed to find DOT chief Ray LaHood campaigning, fiercely, against drivers' use of distracting electronic devices such as cell phones. He took it as a compliment. "Am I on a rampage?" LaHood said in the early years of his term. "Yes, I am, and why shouldn't I be?" Politicians and bureaucrats don't talk that way, but LaHood did. He cited a rising national death toll as drivers increasingly talked & texted their way down our streets and highways. Who can say how many lives (many of them young) were saved as LaHood used the DOT's bully pulpit in his campaign against … [Read more...]
DOT chief LaHood leaving post
January 29, 2013 by 3 Comments
Distracted driving fighter Ray LaHood is stepping down as secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. LaHood, a Republican, made the announcement in a memo to staffers Jan. 29, saying he would stay on until a successor is named. LaHood detailed a string of DOT achievements during his tenure, beginning with the efforts to curtail distracted driving: "We have put safety front and center with the Distracted Driving Initiative." In the memo to DOT staffers, LaHood wrote: "I've told President Obama, and I've told many of you, that this is the best job I've ever had." The president, also … [Read more...]
Reports: Distracted driving gets worse
January 26, 2013 by 1 Comment
Distracted driving continues to increase in the U.S. -- despite new laws, widespread safety education and saturation media coverage -- several new reports suggest. "Most Americans believe this problem is becoming worse," said Peter Kissinger, president of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, which surveyed almost 4,000 motorists for its Traffic Safety Culture Index. Researchers in California report that electronic distracted driving doubled in the state from 2011 to 2012, citing a "substantial and dramatic" increase in use of handheld electronics. Smartphone sales grew about 45 … [Read more...]
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