One of the big stories out of Washington, D.C., today is a federal Department of Transportation summit on distracted driving.
The Department of Transportation pre-released the agenda [PDF] for the event, which begins at 9 a.m. ET and will be webcast at www.distraction.gov.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has said that “Teen drivers are some of the must vulnerable drivers on the road due to inexperience, and adding cell phones to the mix only compounds the dangers.” Despite a nearly two-year effort by the DOT to make drivers, especially younger drivers, aware of the dangers of texting while driving, a new survey indicates kids are not hearing the message.
The survey [PDF], sponsored by State Farm Insurance, said teens overestimate their ability to avoid a wreck while texting:
“While many teens may believe their ability to respond during a texting while driving incident is greater than with drinking while driving, research shows that texting may be as dangerous as or more so than drinking. In a 2008 study by TRL, the United Kingdom’s Transport Research Laboratory, reaction time of drivers 17-24 years of age was reduced by 35 percent when typing a text message, compared with 12 percent when driving after consuming alcohol to the legal limit. A similar study was released in 2006 by the University of Utah using participants 22 to 34 years of age. This study found that the impairments associated with talking on a cell phone can be as profound as those associated with driving while intoxicated during those times when drivers are directly engaged in cell phone use. Researchers also pointed out that drinking creates impairment throughout the entire practice of driving. They found that texting while driving only creates impairment while the driver is directly engaged in the practice. Once reengaged in driving, drivers who text do not display the same characteristics as intoxicated drivers during routine operation of a motor vehicle.”
The National Journal has framed some of the issues that will come up today:
“The public focus of distracted driving is typically handheld cell phones and texting. As laws
have proliferated, that’s where the emphasis has been: Forty states, plus the District of Columbia and two U.S. territories, will have some sort of ban in place by January. Are there reasonable limits on such laws’ scope, such as allowances for gridlock? Is there a solution for the ‘traditional’ distractions, such as talking with passengers? Should distracted driving be a primary offense or a secondary offense — or neither? Are there promising prevention strategies that merit wider use?”
