Illinois has drawn closer to joining the list of states that have banned all handheld cellphone usage at the wheel.  Yesterday, the measure received the approval of the State Senate, paving the way for the bill to be heard anew in front of the House.  The matter was previously approved by that legislative body, but because the Senate amended the measure to state that first offenses can’t be designated as a moving violation, the House must conduct another vote.  If passed and signed by the Governor, offenders can expect to face a $75 fine.  70 localities throughout the state have already put their own bans on cellphone driving on the books, but such a statewide ban would make Illinois the 12 state to pass such a measure.

For more information, click here.

Various chassis and trailers, including some under the Cheetah brand and some that have been remanufactured, are being recalled by John Evans Manufacturing.  380 units, each of the 2013 and 2014 model years, could suffer from inadequate torquing of the lug nuts on the wheels.  This can cause the wheels to become dislodged from the trailers, a condition that can imperil driver control and potentially lead a crash to take place.  There’s no word yet on when the recall is going to start, but trailer owners can expect to hear from John Evans once it does.  A free inspection will be carried out by dealers, and if the condition is discovered, a retorquing procedure will be initiated, also at no cost.

For more about the recall, follow this link.

Earlier this week, the Governor of Hawaii affixed his signature to a bill making it illegal to use a cellphone or any other type of electronic device at the wheel throughout the state, a move that was praised by the Governors Highway Safety Association.  Another measure signed by the Governor made it illegal for persons in backseats to not wear a seatbelt.  Although distraction was already targeted by county lawmakers and enforcement officials, the thought was that this type of unifying law will simplify matters and make the roads safer as a whole.  The measure makes Hawaii the 40th state to ban texting and driving and the 11th state to make cellphone usage illegal.

Click here for more about the law.

Although cellphone usage at the wheel appears to be going down throughout California, the numbers are still too high as far as the director of the California Office of Traffic Safety is concerned.  This year, officials estimate that 7.4% of drivers are using their cellphones at a given time on the state’s roads.  This is actually a decrease from last year, when the figure stood at 10.8%.  These findings were released in conjunction with posted results from the California Highway Patrol’s and local law enforcement agencies’ distracted driving crackdown effort held in April.  57,000 tickets were issued by the various entities taking part in the crackdown, bringing the level of citations in line with figures from 2012.

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A teacher from Shelton, Washington is attempting to spread the word about the importance of always refraining from texting at the wheel.  She became an advocate for safety after her own actions led to a texting and driving accident in 2009.  Although the pedestrian victim lived, he suffered serious brain damage.  Feeling guilty about her role in the incident, the teacher has been sharing her experience in public with all those who will listen.  Not only does she warn students in her own classroom, but she acts as a speaker at other schools in the Shelton-area.  She seeks to place a particular emphasis on getting teens to put down their phones when at the wheel, and her students and other safety advocates have praised her efforts in turning her negative experience into a positive for the community.

Click here for more about her experience.

Recently, the National Transportation Safety Board came out with a series of recommendations that sought to limit occurrences of drunk driving.  The suggestion that garnered the most media attention, though, was the one calling for a lower legal Blood Alcohol Content limit of .05%, which is down from the current .08% standard.  Groups responded to this recommendation in some interesting ways.  The American Beverage Institute, for instance, argues that responsible individuals will be unfairly targeted by such a move, and the Beer Institute figures that resources are better directed toward cracking down on repeat offenders.  But Mothers Against Drunk Driving, a big proponent of the previous act of lowering the limit to .08%, appears nonplussed by the recommendation, saying that they are neutral on the matter.

For more information, follow this link.

Lawmakers in the state of Louisiana have officially bestowed their approval upon a bill that would make it illegal to engage with social media while behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.  Yesterday, the Senate approved the proposed bill by a nearly unanimous margin, paving the way for the measure to be sent to the desk of the Governor.  Anecdotal evidence from law enforcement officials had suggested that drivers being pulled over were consistently arguing that they were using Facebook or some such outlet rather than texting, and thus this new bill was set up in order to erase any such doubts as to the illegality of the act.  If caught, a driver using social media would face a $175 fine.

For more about this law, click here.

Concerned that various distracted driving laws aren’t having the intended effect on drivers, lawmakers in the state of New Jersey are attempting to spread awareness about the necessity of putting one’s phone down while driving.  The Senate Transportation Committee recently approved a measure which would require billboards detailing the fact that texting at the wheel is illegal within New Jersey to be placed along the side of the road.  Responsibility for carrying out this task would fall to the Department of Transportation’s Commissioner.  One Senate proponent of the law explains that drivers might not realize the law or that what they’re doing is dangerous, and thus the hope is that these billboards will enlighten them as to the danger.

For more about the law, follow this link.

A new article looks at the development of the Balsi Beam, which seeks to protect workers in California from the threat of injury or death.  Named after a Caltrans employee who lost a leg in a roadside accident, the device is basically a guard rail attached to a state-operated truck parked along the road.  The thought is that an errant motor vehicle that would have struck a worker will instead hit the guardrail, protecting the individual in the process.  The device was recently put to the test at a West Sacramento track, and by all accounts, things looked to have gone well.  A team will analyze the data from that crash test in order to determine the Balsi Beam’s efficacy.  At the moment, five of the devices are available throughout California.

For more about the test, click here.

If you are headed out onto the road this Memorial Day weekend, then you might want to consider some of the tips provided by the California Highway Patrol in a new report.  The advice was touted during a recent event held by the CHP, the California Trucking Association, and the California Insurance Information Network that sought to impress upon drivers the importance of taking necessary precautions around big rigs.  Automobile drivers should always pass trucks as quickly as possible on the lefthand side, where blind spots tend to be smaller.  Smaller vehicles should never stay for an extended period of time in a trucker’s blind spot, because if they can’t see you, the threat of a crash becomes far greater.  If you’re traveling behind a tractor trailer, make sure to give it up to 25 car lengths of space.  Also give yourself plenty of room at intersections, as a truck in the midst of a turn requires a lot of space to navigate properly.

For more information, follow this link.

An estimated 169 Allstar buses of the 2006 through 2012 model years have been recalled by Starcraft Bus because of a potential issue with their Ricon wheelchair lifts.  If the lifts have an armored pendant cable installed, that cable might not have the appropriate protective cover, and it would also be in danger of making contact with the lift itself.  If the cable is not covered and ends up touching a nearby power lug, a short circuit becomes a possibility, as does an ensuing fire.  There’s no word at this time when the recall is going to start.  When it does begin, Starcraft will be urging consumers to get in touch with Ricon, who has pledged to instruct consumers on how to install a supplement cover at no cost.

For more about the recall, follow this link.

A teenager from Little Rock, Arkansas is taking it upon herself to raise awareness about the dangers of texting and driving.  The 15-year old has used her own money to put together a safety campaign going by the moniker “Survive:  Don’t Text and Drive.”  The campaign can be found on a number of mediums and has earned the thumbs-up from local safety advocates, media organizations, and law enforcement officials.  Billboards and television commercials explain the dangers of distraction and ask teens to pledge never to text, and the girl responsible has even traveled to local school to get elementary students more involved.  At the end of that presentation, kids release balloons that echo the campaign’s message.

For more about her efforts, click here.

Conquest, Ultra Supreme, Ultra, Cavalier, Yellowstone, and Indepedence motorhomes of the 2001 model year with “6316” or “8325” floorplans are being recalled by Gulf Stream Coach.  126 of these motorhomes could suffer from inadequate securing of electrical wiring.  Over time, this can lead to excessive wear and overheating in the area between the affected wiring and the coils of the refrigerator.  This can cause a fire to break out, a condition which has the potential to create property damage or even an injury if someone is inside or in the vicinity of the trailer at the time of the failure.  The recall should start by month’s end, at which point owners will hear from Gulfstream and be able to seek free repairs from a dealer.

Click here for more about the recall.

Early rumblings suggest that the Governor of Florida will finally sign into law a ban on texting and driving at the state level next week.  Although the Governor’s office refrained from confirming the pending signature, an email posted on the Project Sunburst website details a May 28 signing ceremony set to take place in Miami.  A spokesperson said that the Governor is still in the process of looking over the bill, which would make texting at the wheel an offense costing $30, a number that would go up for subsequent violations.  However, because texting would be a secondary offense, an officer must identify some other illegal behavior before they’re able to pull the individual over.

For more information, follow this link.

172 buses are being recalled because of a potential fire threat posed to the vehicles and those on board.  Temsa Global announced the recall, which impacts TS35C coach buses of the 2011 through 2013 model years.  An error which occurred during the manufacture of the vehicles could have led the fuel tank to suffer from a defect that enables a leak to take place.  If fuel is emanating while some type of open flame is present, a fire becomes a possibility.  There is as of yet no word on when the recall will take place or what repairs will consist of.

For more about the recall, follow this link.

This past Wednesday, cyclists across the country took part in the annual Ride of Silence, which seeks to raise awareness about the importance of recognizing cyclists’ right to the road.  100 persons on bikes descended on the Pasadena area to take part in the event.  Participants were clad in black and red armbands, the former to signify the loss of a loved one hit by a vehicle and the latter standing for that participant being in an accident themselves.  Half of those who showed up for the event had reportedly been struck in some way.  The coordinator of the Ride of Silence explained that 25 cyclists have already been killed in Southern California this year.  The Pasadena version of the event began in 2005.

For more about the ride, click here.

ACX Trucks of the 2012 and 2013 model years have been recalled by Autocar because of a potential safety hazard associated with their windshield wiper blades.  On just under 800 of these vehicles, the blades are in danger of not being placed in the right position.  This could compromise the blades’ ability to clear a driver’s windshield, and thus the trucks are brought out of compliance with federal standards.  Rain or some other type of moisture could imperil a driver’s vision, making the threat of a crash that much greater.  The recall won’t start until the beginning of July, and owners will hear from Autocar and be able to bring the trucks in to a dealer to obtain no-cost repairs.

Click here for more about this recall.

It has been illegal to text and drive in Louisiana for awhile now, but many officials within the state have grown concerned that motor vehicle operators could exploit a loophole allowing them to interact with social media at the wheel.  Lawmakers are attempting to put an end to that loophole, and they took a big step in that direction with the House’s passage of a ban on social media usage while driving.  Although previously approved by the state Senate, the House amended the proposal to exempt users of ham radios, and thus the Senate will have to vote anew on the measure.  Should the Senate conclude that the law would still be advisable, the Governor would have to sign it before it becomes the law of the land.

For more about this measure, click here.

The city of Evanston, Illinois has been able to report a marked reduction in the number of motor vehicle collisions which have occurred since a ban on cellphone usage at the wheel was put into place.  Enactment of the law occurred in 2010, and from 2009 to now, injurious crashes have decreased in the city by 14.5%.  One city officlas points not just to the law but to the efforts of police to crack down on distracted drivers as a reason for the measure’s success.  Illinois as a whole does not ban cellphone driving at this point, but various cities have enacted their own measures barring a statewide ban.

For more information, follow this link.

Concerned about the danger still posed by drunk driving, despite a nationwide enactment of a .08% blood alcohol content standard for intoxication in 2000, the National Transportation Safety Board is attempting to get the current BAC lowered even further.  The NTSB believes that reducing the BAC minimum to .05% will save lives, as a driver at the .08% limit still sees their chances of being involved in a fatal crash doubled.  The NTSB has also advised that interlock devices, which prevent a vehicle from starting when the driver is drunk, be more widely adopted and that enforcement operations become more commonplace.  The American Beverage Institute took issue with these proposals, which they say would unfairly punish moderate drinkers.

For more about these recommendations, follow this link.