Consumer Related Distracted Driving News
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May 22
Santa Clara County taxpayers are on the hook for a $5 million settlement in a crash involving a distracted Santa Clara County Sheriff's patrol deputy who severely injured a 78-year-old man.
Instead of a cell phone, three things appear to have prompted Deputy Greg Markovic to take his eyes off the road, according to police reports -- a McDonald's hamburger, a radio microphone that got stuck and a light switch he accidentally turned on and was trying to turn off when he smashed into Diem Van Lam's 1994 Honda.
"The take-home message from this case is that distracted driving can affect anyone, at any time," said Michael M. Shea Jr., the injured man's lawyer, "even at 4 o'clock in the morning and even when you think you're the only one on the road."
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May 21Driver admits killing teen in texting and driving crash
A Uintah County man who struck and killed a Vernal teen while texting and driving has pleaded guilty to a felony, and settled a wrongful-death lawsuit with the boy's parents.
Bascom, 29, hit Clark from behind on Sept. 2 as the 15-year-old and a friend walked along the shoulder of 500 West near 1200 South about 9 p.m. The crash threw Clark about 40 feet through the air. He landed next to a barbed-wire fence that separates a cow pasture from a roadside ditch.
The teen died the following day at Primary Children's Medical Center. His friend escaped injury.
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May 21
15 jarring ads that will help you stop texting and driving.
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May 20
An AT&T survey published in USA Today in March showed 49 percent of adult drivers and 43 percent of teen drivers admitted to texting while driving. And 98 percent of the adults surveyed said they knew it was dangerous.
read more >>Technology has created this problem. And technological innovation will probably be needed to solve it.
We can’t count on common sense, no matter how old drivers are.
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May 16Tragic death of 8 year-old caused by cell phone use
Jaret was hit by a car headed the other way -- driven by 20-year-old Jenna Hoke, who had just gotten off working third shift at a nearby Walmart.
“Before she got toward the bus, she was plugging in her phone, and when she looked up, she was too late to stop,” said Union County Sheriff Eric Cantrell.
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May 15Big 4 cell phone companies working together to save lives!
AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile will be joined by 200 other organizations backing the multi-million dollar ad campaign.
The campaign is unusual not just because it unites rivals, but because it represents companies warning against the dangers of their own products. After initially fighting laws against cellphone use while driving, cellphone companies have begun to embrace the language of the federal government's campaign against cellphone use by drivers.
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May 14Crashes due to cell phone use are severely underreported
A recent analysis of state and federal data by the National Safety Council, an advocacy group, concluded that crash deaths in cases where drivers were on the phone are seriously underreported. The underreporting makes the problem of distracted driving appear less significant than it actually is and impedes efforts to win passage of tougher laws.
In a study paid for in part by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, the group reviewed records involving 180 fatal crashes that occurred from 2009 to 2011 in which there was strong evidence that the driver had been using a cellphone.
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May 13ORIGOSafe™ cures the addiction to the cell phone; lets drivers stay connected handsfree
Abstinence for distracted drivers: While there are many apps geared toward reducing distracted driving, they require that drivers actually use them, and it's easy to just turn off the app when compulsion takes over. The best way to eliminate drivers being distracted by their cellphones and becoming a danger to themselves and others is to take their cellphones away from them completely.
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May 06Truck's No-Zone Demo, No Texting Promise and New Teen Driver Safety Educational Materials to Highlight Operation Safe Driver Event to Curb Epidemic of Teen Deaths
U.S. Transportation Deputy Secretary John Porcari, teen driving safety youth leaders, and a distracted driving crash survivor will join representatives of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), FedEx Ground, and the Maryland State Police, at a media event to demonstrate how to share the road safely with large trucks and to unveil a new teen driver safety educational curriculum to curb distracted driving...
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May 05More Than 4 in 10 U.S. Teens Text While Driving: Survey
SATURDAY, May 4 (HealthDay News) -- Forty-three percent of American high school students admit to texting while driving, according to a new study.
The findings show that too many teens are ignoring warnings about the risks of this dangerous habit. Research has demonstrated that texting while driving increases the risk of a crash by 23 times, and many experts say texting while driving is more dangerous than driving while intoxicated.
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