A recent, widely publicized study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) on the dangers of texting while driving has confirmed the obvious: texting while driving is extremely dangerous! The study showed truck drivers who were texting were 23 times more likely to crash. To view the press release for the study, click here. The VTTI study has sparked a flurry of debate, as well as federal and state anti-texting legislation.
In late July, a new federal bill, known as the Avoiding Life-Endangering and Reckless Texting by Drivers Act, or "ALERT Drivers" Act, was introduced. This bill will require all states to ban writing, sending or reading text messages using hand-held mobile telephones or other portable electronic communication devices within the next two years.
As of early August, a total of 17 states have already made texting while driving illegal, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. In addition to the states that have banned texting while behind the wheel outright, there are nine others that have barred the practice for young drivers. Seven states have outlawed using cell phones while driving. Currently, no state has banned all forms of cell phone use while driving. To view a table listing state specific restrictions by the Governors Highway Safety Association, click here.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced plans to convene a national summit in late September to study texting while driving and other behaviors that take drivers' focus off the roads. Upon completion of the summit, LaHood will announce a list of concrete steps to curtail distracted driving, possibly including education and awareness campaigns alongside legislative efforts.
For more information on the VTTI Study, the proposed ban on texting while driving, and the summit to discuss the topic, please read below.
Virginia Tech Study
Researchers at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute spent $6 million, financed largely by the federal government, to conduct a naturalistic driving study to test the impact of cell phone use on driving. The study, the largest ever of its kind, confirmed that cell phone use negatively affected a driver's risk of crashing or having a near crash experience.
The tests were performed in the participant's personal vehicle using advanced cameras and instruments and continuously observed drivers for six million miles of driving. The video showed texting to be an extremely high-risk behavior, mainly because it is associated with drivers taking their eyes off the road.
The study revealed that texting was, by a wide margin, the most hazardous driver distraction: truck drivers who were texting were 23.2 times more likely to have a crash or a near crash. It also showed that drivers of cars were 2.8 times more likely to crash when dialing a phone than when driving undistracted. The study also showed that when texting, drivers could travel the length of a football field at 55 mph without looking at the road. Compared with other sources of driver distraction, "texting is in its own universe of risk," said Rich Hanowski, who oversaw the study at the institute.
Virginia Tech examined 4,452 "safety-critical events," including 21 crashes, 197 near crashes and about 4,200 other events, including unintentional lane changes.
The study's recommendations include:
--Banning texting in all moving vehicles
--Using a "true hands-free" system where voice-activation is used to control phones
--Avoiding all activities that draw a driver's eyes away from the road
--Banning all cell phone use for newly licensed teen drivers
The study also concluded that headset cell phone use is not substantially safer than hand-held because the primary risks associated with both are answering, dialing and other tasks that take drivers' eyes off the road.
"There is an alarming amount of misinformation and confusion regarding cell phone and texting use while behind the wheel of a vehicle," said VTTI director Tom Dingus in a press release previewing the study findings. "The findings from our research at VTTI can help begin to clear up these misconceptions as it is based on real-world driving data."
Lawmakers Propose Ban on Texting While Driving
On July 29, Senators Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), introduced legislation (S. 1536) titled "Avoiding Life-Endangering and Reckless Texting (ALERT) by Drivers Act of 2009." The bill requires all states to, within the next two years, ban writing, sending or reading text messages using a hand-held mobile telephone or other portable electronic communication device.
The bill would target the activity in a moving vehicle and not prohibit a driver from texting or e-mailing in a stopped car. The transportation secretary would be required to issue guidelines within six months of the measure being signed into law, and states then would have two years to approve the bans on texting and driving.
States that do not comply with the legislation risk losing 25% of their annual federal highway funding. It would be patterned after the way the Congress required states to adopt a national drunken driving ban.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has indicated that he would support banning motorists from texting behind the wheel, but acknowledged further study was needed to find effective ways to enforce such a ban. "If it were up to me, I would ban drivers from texting, but unfortunately, laws aren't always enough," said LaHood.
The American Trucking Associations (ATA) strongly supports the safety objectives in the proposed legislation banning texting while driving, although it has also indicated that they will work to ensure that the bill does not inadvertently require states to outlaw the use of truck cab fleet management systems that provide limited, but necessary, cargo-related information to professional drivers.
Summit
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced plans to convene a national summit to study texting while driving and other behaviors that take drivers' focus off the roads. The summit, scheduled for Wednesday, September 30 and Thursday, October 1, in Washington, D.C., will include senior transportation officials, safety advocates, law enforcement representatives, members of Congress and academics who study these matters.
"If it were up to me, I would ban drivers from texting," LaHood said. He acknowledged, however, that laws -- including those prohibiting drunk driving -- often are insufficient without education and enforcement. "We've learned from past safety awareness campaigns that it takes a coordinated strategy combining education and enforcement to get results. That's why this meeting with experienced officials, experts, and law enforcement will be such a crucial first step in our efforts to put an end to distracted driving."
Upon completion of the summit, LaHood said he would announce a list of "concrete steps...to make drivers think twice about taking their eyes off the road for any reason. The bottom line," LaHood said, "is distracted driving is dangerous driving."
To accommodate the strong response, the summit will be available live by webcast and members of the public will be given the opportunity to submit questions online. The Department has also created a website to provide information and updates on the summit at: http://www.rita.dot.gov/distracted_driving_summit/.
You can also receive Twitter updates by visiting:
http://twitter.com/distractdriving
The Office of Drug & Alcohol Policy & Compliance (ODAPC) recently published a Final Rule in the Federal Register which restores mandatory direct observation (DO) collections for all return-to-duty and follow-up testing. This DO drug testing rule is applicable to return-to-duty, safety-sensitive transportation industry employees who have already failed or refused to take a prior drug test.
The start date for mandatory DO for return-to-duty and follow-up testing is August 31, 2009. All employees who go for return-to-duty and follow-up tests, on and after the effective date, must have their collections observed. This includes employees currently in follow-up testing programs who will still be in those programs on and after August 31st.
Some employers and labor organizations may have entered into collective bargaining agreements that prohibit or limit the use of DO collections in return-to-duty and follow-up testing situations. When this final rule goes into effect, conducting all follow-up and return-to-duty testing using DO collections will be a requirement of federal law.
You can link to the Final Rule on the Federal Register website at: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-18156.pdf
Effective August 17, 2009, the Hazmat applications and fingerprinting for the state of Indiana are being coordinated by L1 Enrollment Services, an agent of TSA.
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Starting
August 10, 2009, Indiana drivers can either apply online at
http://www.hazprints.com/ or by calling the L1 driver call center at 1-877-429-7746. Drivers must complete the application either online or by calling the Driver Call Center before appearing for fingerprinting.
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Drivers cannot get fingerprinted at an L1 site until August 17, 2009
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Once a driver has completed the application, they can visit any of the nine L1 Enrollment Services locations here in Indiana in addition to the numerous other locations, located in the 38 other states that participate. Indiana will have locations in Indianapolis, Evansville, Ft. Wayne, Logansport, Merrillville, Terre Haute, Richmond, and Seymour. For a complete listing visit
http://www.hazprints.com/.
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Appointments are highly recommended. Walk-ins will not be turned away; however, a driver may have to wait until there is an opening.
Once a driver has been approved for the HME endorsement, he or she may visit any Indiana license branch to complete the license process. Please note that beginning 1/1/09, anyone applying for a license in Indiana will be issued an interim license at the branch (if their current license is expired or set to expire in less than 14 days) and will be mailed the actual credential in 10 days or less.
Drivers seeking to add the Hazmat endorsement will still be required to take the Hazmat test at a local Indiana BMV branch. The driver may take the test prior to or after the TSA Threat Assessment (fingerprinting/background checks), but the written test results are only valid for 180 days.
Indiana soon could join the growing number of states with laws requiring motorists to put their cell phones away while behind the wheel.
After approving legislation this year that bans teens from texting and talking on mobile devices while driving, state lawmakers say next year they expect to see legislation to crack down on texting by drivers of all ages.
Senator Tom Wyss, the chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said he is confident there will be bills introduced to outlaw texting while driving - a practice numerous studies have deemed even more dangerous than drinking and driving - and possibly even to completely prohibit cell phone use.
If such legislation makes it to the Senate, his committee would be its starting point.
"I would be willing to give it a hearing," said Wyss, R-Fort Wayne. He added that he would support such a ban "absolutely without any hesitation whatsoever."
It's unclear whether Republican Governor Mitch Daniels would support a bill to prohibit all motorists from texting while driving. His spokeswoman, Jane Jankowski, said Daniels "has not weighed in on this topic."