Archive for the ‘texting’ Category

A new study finds that state laws banning driving while texting doesn't actually correspond to lower confessed rates of the activity in that state—especially among the youngest drivers.

Part of it looks due to misinformation. Nearly 36 percent of respondents didn't know whether or not driving while texting was banned or restricted in their state.

The study on consumer mobile messaging habits was conducted earlier this year with more than 4,800 subjects—about 100 from each 48 contiguous states—commissioned by Vlingo Corporation, a maker of voice-to-text software, and conducted by the research firm Toluna in the first quarter of 2009. It...

At a meeting on auto safety organized by the U.S. Transportation Department, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood this morning reported on the dangers of distracted driving. His figures were grim: last year, almost 6,000 traffic fatalities and 515,000 injuries were linked to driver distraction.

The goal of the two-day "distracted driving summit" is for the assembled experts to draw up a list of recommendations that can be presented to Congress. Ultimately, LaHood hopes to see those recommendations implemented in legislation to restrict drivers' ability to talk on cell phones or text-message behind the wheel. LaHood has compared the meeting...

Texting is a permanent part of digital life today, but that doesn't make it safe. And the data on texting while driving is truly frightening: A study of truck drivers by Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showed their risk of a crash or near-crash event was 23 times as high when the driver was texting.

Now the trade group for the major U.S. auto manufacturers has come out in support of a total ban on the use of handheld texting devices while drivers are at the wheel.

The action comes ahead of a U.S. Department of Transportation summit meeting next week to address issues around driver distraction. Ford said it supported a ban on driver...