DrivingDistractions
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States mulling bans on driving while texting
We kind of get a kick out of possible laws that have to spell out common sense to people lacking it, so we chuckled a bit when we saw that legislators in Oregon and Washington want to pass laws against DWT, or "Driving While Texting." To those that just can't enjoy the peaceful gridlock of that daily commute, better not whip out that handset or even the beloved BlackBerry and start sending SMSs, emails, or whatever your own text-based poison may be. Considering how many distractions already plague drivers in modern vehicles, we suggest just a fave DAP with a preset playlist and leave it at that, eh?
Study confirms the obvious: chatting behind the wheel is dangerous
A new study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virgina Tech Transportation Institute using vehicle-embedded sensors and videocams has confirmed what most of us already knew, which is that talking on your cellphone make you more susceptible to getting in an accident. Of the 82 crashes and 761 "near misses" experienced by 241 drivers over the course of the yearlong study, dialing and talking on a cellphone were the second and third most common causes, respectively, after drowsiness. Moreover, dialing a phone nearly triples your chances of getting into an accident, concluded the study, which showed that driving distractions in general played a role in almost 80% of the accidents recorded. If proof like this doesn't shock legislators into addressing this problem, our only hope seems to be voluntary measures adopted by wireless carriers, such as the clever audible stoplight alert system we brought you yesterday.
