US government holding summit over driver text safety fears
The Department of Transportation is to hold a special meeting to discuss the problems of drivers being distracted. Early indications suggest it may lead to attempts to outlaw sending text messages while driving.
The issue of cellphones and driver safety has become high-profile recently through a series of articles in the New York Times. One covered a study by Virginia Tech which fitted cameras in the cabs of long-distance lorry drivers. It found that drivers who texted were 23 time more likely to crash.
Last month campaign groups finally won a battle under freedom of information laws to access confidential National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documents from earlier in the decade which included an estimate of 955 people dying in 2002 from road accidents caused by cellphone use. There were claims that political pressure from cellphone manufacturers had led to a cover-up.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (pictured) will announce the summit later today. In a prepared statement issued in advance to the Associated Press he said, “The bottom line is, we need to put an end to unsafe cell phone use, typing on BlackBerrys and other activities that require drivers to take their eyes off the road and their focus away from driving.”
LaHood’s personal view is that legislation is needed to stop texting while driving. However, the summit will explore the importance of other measures such as public education, and whether existing laws are being properly enforced.
Those in attendance will also look at the effects of voice calls while driving; that debate has been livened by a National Safety Council study suggesting hands-free phones are no safer for drivers than handheld models as it is the mental rather than physical effects which enhance the dangers.
The summit will take place next month and include politicians, safety experts, law enforcement officials and academics who have studied the issue.
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August 5th, 2009
What a waste of time. If they aren’t going to legislate adequate budget for the police to enforce the dangerous & distracted driving laws that already cover this, what do they expect from new legislation?