States that don't ban cell phone use by drivers in school zones would lose federal funding under a bill proposed by Colorado congresswoman Betsy Markey. "Erica's Law" is named after 9-year-old Erica Forney, who was killed by a driver using a cell phone. The girl was biking home after school. Erica lived in Markey's district of Fort Collins. Several bills are pending in Congress that would tie distracted driving laws and federal highway funding, including one sponsored by West Virginia's Sen. Jay Rockefeller. Colorado's ban on text messaging went into effect in December. A hands-free … [Read more...]

The nation's interim ban on text messaging by truckers is on the road to becoming permanent. The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday that it had officially proposed the rule and was entering a 30-day comment period. "We get that the trucking biz is hard," DOT chief Ray LaHood tweeted after the announcement. "We're just trying to save lives." The rule applies to interstate truckers and bus drivers whose vehicles weigh more than 10,000 pounds. Violators would face fines and possible disqualification from commercial trucking. The interim ban was based on interpretation of … [Read more...]

"Distracted flying" is now under investigation by the Transportation Department, following news of two Northwest Airline pilots who overshot the Minneapolis airport by 150 miles, apparently while using their using laptop computers. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has widened his department's initiatives to "distractions as they apply beyond cars — to rail, buses, and now, planes," a spokesman told the Associated Press on Oct. 28. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., called the incident “the ultimate case of distracted driving — only this time it was distracted flying.” The two pilots, whose … [Read more...]