About 80 percent of Americans favor bans on text messaging while driving, according to a new poll on distracted driving habits. A majority of those polled would like to see laws restricting all types of cell phone use behind the wheel -- regardless of whether a hands-free device is employed. The Nationwide Insurance poll on cell phones and text messaging by drivers, conducted in early August, surveyed more than 1,000 adults nationwide. It was conducted independently, by Harris Interactive. Almost two-thirds of the respondents backed some controls on cell phone use by drivers. Three-fourths … [Read more...]
The unfriendly skies: Cell phones in flight
September 2, 2009 by Leave a Comment
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio doesn't like what he hears about the possibility of cell phones being legalized on airline flights. He's sponsoring the Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace Act -- or HANG UP -- which would prohibit the FCC from allowing mobile phone use in the skies. DeFazio, D-Oregon, is no buttinski -- he's a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. "After arriving hours early at the airport and often after waiting for a delayed, or even canceled, flight, what could make air travel worse?" he asks rhetorically in an opinion piece on cell phones on … [Read more...]
‘Toughest law’ on texting profiled
August 30, 2009 by Leave a Comment
The New York Times is featuring Utah's anti-text messaging law for motorists, in which violators face up to 15 years in prison if a fatality results from their distracted driving. 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 … [Read more...]
International distracted driving roundup
August 22, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Distracted driving news from around the globe. (Does not include the EU member states, Britain, Australia or Canada.) View the European distracted driving news page, the British distracted driving news page and the Australia & New Zealand cell phone laws roundup. In Japan, serious crashes linked to distracted driving were at a record rate in 2023. There were 122 distracted driving crashes with deaths or serious injuries, the National Police Agency reported in March 2024. Japan last hiked penalties for distraction in 2019. In Jamaica, new road traffic regulations went into effect in … [Read more...]
Lower Chichester talks tough on texting
August 19, 2009 by Leave a Comment
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 … [Read more...]
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