Transportation Secretary Says Distracted Driving Crackdown 'Must Go Further'
By Bill Visnic September 21, 2010
Acknowledging today at the U.S. Department of Transportation's second annual distracted-driving summit that distracted driving is as serious a public-health threat as drunk driving, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood also said regulators and law-enforcement officials are "not without hope" in addressing what many believe has become an epidemic of reckless behavior by American drivers of all stripe.
In an address to open today's summit in Washington, D.C., LaHood pointed to the effective multidisciplinary campaigns such as "Click It or Ticket," to increase seatbelt use and a variety of initiatives to curb drunk driving as evidence the public is willing to embrace limits on personal freedoms of those operating moving vehicles.
And, LaHood said, early efforts to curb or altogether ban cell-phoning and text-messaging while driving have had strong support.
"I can't think of another safety issue in American history that's gained so much traction in such a short time," LaHood said.
To date, eight states have banned handheld cell-phoning and 30 states have banned texting while driving. Now the DOT is considering dangling the promise of increased federal highway funding for states that take up the cause - because against this backdrop, more than a quarter of all vehicle accidents annually in the U.S. - about 1.4 million - now are attributed to cell-phone distraction. Government statistics say more than 5,400 people were killed in distracted-driving-related accidents in 2009.
LaHood, meanwhile, said that crafting regulations and laws is only part of the equation; such actions are no good without strong enforcement - and strong public-awareness initiatives to make drivers understand their bad behavior has sometimes disastrous consequences: attending the summit are several families who have had loved ones killed in distracted-driving accidents.
"We need tough laws, we need good enforcement" said LaHood. "But most of all we need personal responsibility."
What's Next
While researchers and a panel of various stakeholders discuss at today's summit the broad implications of distracted driving, LaHood said the government already is seeing some results from early actions.
He said high-visibility enforcement of hand-held cellphoning and texting laws can begin to make a difference. Two recent federally-funded pilot enforcement programs in Hartford, CT, and Syracuse, NY - states that both completely ban handheld phones and texting - were able to reduce incidents by 56 percent in Hartford and 38 percent in Syracuse. In a two-week period, thousands of tickets were issued in both areas.
New bans on handheld phoning and texting by commercial drivers (and train operators) have just been adopted and LaHood said there is a new final rule in place to ban texting by drivers of vehicles transporting hazardous materials, whose actions currently fall in a loophole of new or existing regulations. And hundreds of corporations and companies have adopted policies addressing cellphone and texting, he added.
But we must go further," he said - and spoke specifically about DOT's plans to talk more with automakers about the situation.
LaHood had praise for automakers' efforts to reduce the distraction of information from personal electronic devices - particularly now-widespread systems to enable hands-free operation - but said he plans to speak with automakers regarding recently announced efforts to bring features of social media and web-surfing into the automotive environment.
LEAVE A COMMENT