A new report out of King County, Washington details the increased danger of distracted driving among teens during summer months.  The Washington Traffic Safety Commission explains that graduations and other summer events contribute to circumstances which can prove dangerous for teens.  Teenagers themselves have admitted that cellphones can often be too tempting to ignore, making distraction one of the many situations that have led automobile accidents to become the leading cause of death among teens across the country.  Officers in Washington ask parents to set a good example by putting the phone down when behind the wheel.  And for their part, the Target Zero Taskforce of King County will be out in full force cracking down on cellphone usage during summer months.

For more information, follow this link.

A researcher from the Motor Industry Research Association recently voiced his thoughts on the proliferation of automobile apps in the marketplace and their impact on distracted driving.  A supporter of the recent anti-distracted driving guidelines issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the doctor reasoned that apps which help get us to our destination or monitor our fuel economy are also creating information overload that has the potential to reduce driving ability.  He urges the United Kingdom to consider enacting voluntary guidelines similar to what the NHTSA has offered, saying that things like scrolling text, the internet, and social media should be placed out of a driver’s sight in a vehicle cabin.  He would also like to see maximum sound requirements put in place.

Click here for more information.

Six states are teaming up for an anti-distracted driving effort next week that has been aptly named the Six-State Trooper Project.  Highway patrol officers from Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and presumably one other state will be on the lookout for road actions that could be indicative of a distraction at the wheel.  Ohio in particular will deploy its air unit to look out for inappropriate lane crossings, aggression, tailgating, and other behaviors that suggest the driver’s focus isn’t completely on their environment.  The crackdown will pertain not just to cellphone violations but to other types of offenses such as eating or personal grooming.

For more about this effort, follow this link.

The state of Florida is getting tough on distracted commercial drivers.  Earlier this week, the Governor signed a Highway Safety Bill that makes it illegal for bus drivers, truckers, and other commercial vehicle operators to use a handheld cellphone to talk or text.  Hands-free devices will still be allowed.  In addition to issuing a whopping $500 citation to the drivers responsible for the transgression, fleet operators would also be susceptible to a $2,750 ticket.  That latter number could increase to $11,000 if a driver is ticketed three times.  The Department of Transportation and the Florida Truckers Association back the measure, which brings Florida in line with federal guidelines for commercial driving.

For more about the measure, follow this link.

Another report points to how difficult it can be to crack down on texting and driving if states fail to enact laws which focus on other distracting cellphone behaviors.  This most recent example comes from the Lafayette area of Indiana, where texting at the wheel has been illegal for about two years.  West Lafayette police have been able to issue one ticket during that entire timeframe, while Purdue hasn’t even done that.  The problem is that emailing or doing just about anything else on the phone is still legal, and thus it’s nearly impossible to distinctly prove texting has taken place.  A patrol commander from West Lafayette suggested that the problem won’t be addressed until all but hands-free communications are the focus of the law.

For more information, click here.

Today, the AAA Foundation for Highway Safety released the results of research from the University of Utah that outlines the danger posed by hands-free communications at the wheel and other types of cognitive distractions.  By placing a group of drivers in both simulators and vehicles capable of measuring mental function, researchers were able to gauge just how a driver’s behavior changed when exposed to such activities as talking on a hands-free and handheld phone and listening to an audiobook.  The study concluded that drivers fail to react appropriately to something like a pedestrian in a crosswalk if using a voice-activated texting function.  A representative of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers has voiced concern with the results.

For more about the study, click here.

The city of Lubbock may soon join the list of areas throughout Texas that have banned texting at the wheel.  This Thursday, the City Council will meet to discuss the matter, and the current Mayor Pro Tem doesn’t expect there to be much dissension in the ranks.  She explains that initially she had her doubts about the matter, but when the ban was brought up a few months ago, she began to monitor her own habits and started to truly understand how dangerous texting can be.  If passed, a driver would have to pay a $200 fine.  Three council members are already behind the ban.  Should it come to fruition, texting will be illegal in yet another portion of Texas in lieu of a statewide ban that failed earlier this year.

For more about the ban, follow this link.

Not too long ago, lawmakers at the South Dakota state level opted not to move forward with a ban on texting and driving.  Because of that, cities have been left to carve their own path on the matter.  And while places like Sioux Falls, Brookings, and more have already passed their own measures attempting to root out texting drivers, the city of Aberdeen is now taking the first step in that direction.  The City Council has approved an ordinance that would make it illegal for drivers to text at the wheel within city limits, although final approval is still necessary.  If passed, persons caught engaging in the act could see fines escalating to as high as $120.

For more about the potential ban, click here.

Results are coming in from a two week crackdown on distracted driving and seatbelt neglect which took place throughout Washington.  But while looking out for violations of laws pertaining to such, the additional officers on patrol were also able to root out persons committing a litany of other offenses.  In Kitsap County, for instance, only 59 people were cited for seatbelt violations and 16 for improper cellphone usage.  But 73 speeding tickets were issued and 32 persons were cited for license and insurance violations.  At the statewide level, a whopping 1,448 people were ticketed for using their phones to text or talk during the given time period, and 2,321 found themselves being cited for failing to wear a seatbelt.

For more about the crackdown, follow this link.

New York lawmakers recently made headlines by increasing the penalties for texting and driving and cellphone usage at the state level, but a new report shows that actually convicting violators might be harder than initially thought.  There are a number of reasons why texting conviction rates stand at around 44% despite a large number of tickets being issued.  A representative of the New York Sheriff’s Association explains that there won’t be a record of a text that never goes through, and so if the person is pulled over prior to hitting send, they could easily escape the ticket.  Offenders are also able to take advantage of a hefty case backlog.  However, cellphone tickets see far higher conviction rates, with an estimated 82% of tickets from 2001 to 2013 leading to such a ruling.

Click here to learn more.

A Washington news station recently sought to put to the test the idea that it’s possible to safely text and drive at the same time.  To do so, they teamed up with the Sheriff’s Office of Spokane County to put together a safety course designed to gauge how performance is compromised while responding to texts at the wheel.  The reporter driving the vehicle was unable to perform adequately when put through the obstacle course.  When attempting to avoid a child (or rather a cone standing in for such), she struck the obstacle.  She also hit a ball thrown into the street to simulate a bike rider.  During other parts of the course, her speed dropped dramatically and she struggled to stay within the lanes.

For more information, follow this link.

Recently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a series of recommendations on curbing distracted driving.  What caught the notice of many was one particular passage that sought to put a voluntary guideline in place that would encourage automakers to refrain from installing dashboard systems that could distract a driver with various communications and internet applications.  But one key member of the NHTSA who recently spoke at Telematics Detroit wants to take things even further.  He has suggested that cellphones or vehicles come equipped with some type of sensor that can deduce when a cellphone user is driving and emit a warning when that persons attempts to text or talk on their phone.  The thinking is that this passive system would be better than technology requiring the driver to connect their phone directly to an automobile.

Click here for more information.

Connecticut has drawn one step closer to toughening the penalties assessed against those drivers caught engaging in a distracting behavior, such as cellphone usage, at the wheel.  Earlier this week, the Senate passed a transportation bill with passages dedicated to distracted driving, and now all that remains is for the Governor to affix his signature to the law.  If signed, distracted driving violations could be reported to the insurance company of the offender, a move that has the potential to increase that individual’s insurance premiums.  Fines assessed by police would also go up and a task force would even be created whose job it would be to look into various methods that can be put into practice to fight distraction.

For more about the bill, click here.

The state of New York is getting tougher on texting and driving.  This past Friday, the Governor announced drivers who get caught texting or talking on a cellphone at the wheel can expect to have five points assessed to their licenses, an increase from the previous three.  Distraction will also be the focus of an upcoming crackdown that seeks to improve traffic safety.  In addition, the Governor would like to see lawmakers get even tougher on younger drivers, and he has thus thrown his weight behind a bill that would suspend the license of junior and probationary drivers caught texting or using their phones for as much as two months.  That would bring the distraction law in line with laws pertaining to recklessness and speeding.

For more information, follow this link.

Last Friday, an event was held in Seattle which sought to get across to citizens the dangers posed by texting at the wheel.  The presentation, which was put together by AT & T and featured the assistance of the Washington State Patrol and a local radio station, was intended to spread awareness about the It Can Wait campaign, which attempts to get drivers around the country to sign a pledge stating that they’ll never again text and drive at the same time.  The hope was that 500 or more people would drop by the Northgate Mall in order to affix their signatures to the ever-growing pledge.  The WSP had a vehicle involved in a texting-based crash on hand, and a member of the aforementioned radio station was also there to relate her own eye-opening experience with texting and driving.

Click here for more about the effort.

Utah is erecting a number of roadsigns around the state in a bid to get drivers to understand the illegality of texting and driving in the area.  The family of an individual who died in a crash caused by texting at the wheel is responsible for the safety campaign, which will find around 100 signs being put up.  The areas around schools will receive the most attention.  The signs explain Utah’s law against texting and driving, which tasks violators with paying a fine worth $310.  This information will be accompanied by a picture of a cellphone with an X through it.  Perhaps most eye-opening is a billboard that features a photo of the aforementioned texting and driving victim.

Click here for more about the effort.

Celebrities are teaming up with automakers and telecommunications companies in order to get teens to recognize the dangers of texting and driving.  The effort, which hails from Sprint, Toyota, and Dosomething.org, will find celebrities appearing in Public Service Announcements promoting Thumb Wars.  Teens who sign up at the Dosomething website will be able to receive a pair of thumb socks in the mail that contain an anti-texting and driving message.  This is the third year that the campaign has been put forth, and the efforts are bearing fruit.  230,000 teens received thumb socks last year, and a survey suggests that teenagers who received the anti-texting socks were far less likely to engage in texting at the wheel.

Click here for more about the campaign.

Just under 1,100 New Jersey drivers were polled by Cvent on behalf of Plymouth Rock Assurance in the hopes of gaining a better understanding of distracted driving habits, and the results reinforce the fact that distraction is far too common at the wheel.  28% of respondents admitted to texting while operating a vehicle, and one in five persons in that demographic said they did so on a daily basis.  39% texted weekly.  And perhaps most disappointing is the 24% of admitted texters who texted while transporting a child.  The good news is that people are speaking up when texting happens.  47% of passengers queried asked a driver to refrain from texting while they were doing so, and nearly a third even sought to somehow get drivers of other vehicles to cease the dangerous activity.

For more about the survey, follow this link.

Illinois could soon become the latest state to ban all handheld cellphone usage at the wheel.  The House voted for the second time on a bill that would outlaw that type of behavior throughout the state, and once again, the measure passed.  Although lawmakers in that legislative body previously okayed the bill, the Senate added an amendment about first offenses not being designated as a moving violation, and thus the House had to vote anew.  Now, despite the protestations of some who argued that the bill unfairly targets only one type of distraction, the bill will head to the Governor for a signature.  If he agrees to sign it, drivers can expect to face a $75 fine if they commit the offense.

For more about the law’s passage, click here.

Although rather lax as far as texting and driving bans go, an anti-texting measure that some lawmakers have been pursuing for years will finally come to fruition in the state of Florida.  The Governor will sign the measure into law today, bringing to an end fears about where he stands on the issue.  The Governor expressed concern about the prevalence of texting and driving and explained that steps like these were essential to protecting teens and other drivers along the roads.  Under the pending law, texting will be a secondary violation carrying a base fine of $30.  Compounding difficulties with enforcement is the fact that a warrant will be required if a law enforcement official hopes to gain access to a driver’s phone.

Click here for more about Florida’s ban.