Wow, wouldn’t you think that the U.N. has larger, more global issues to concentrate on than distracted driving, what with things like genocide, civil uprisings, famine and disease going on around the world? I’d think that a good percentage of countries in the world body don’t even have any issues with distracted driving– or driving period–seems more like a problem for domestic governments to get concerned with.
You don’t need an extensive study to tell you that texting and driving is a problem on our roadways. According to a new study, however, the solution may not be texting-while-driving bans.
The study conducted by the Highway Loss Data Institute found that the bans are not effective at lowering crash rates. It focused on rates for California, Connecticut, New York and Washington D.C.–places that all have bans in place. It found that the monthly crash rates were unaffected once the bans were enacted. The crash rates also didn’t decrease when compared with neighboring areas without bans. The study only looked at 100 insured vehicles, however– seemingly a tiny sample that would make its findings questionable.
The fact that texting while driving is multiple times more dangerous than talking is pretty intuitive; we don’t really need a study to know it’s true. Texting requires you to take your hand off the wheel and eyes off the road and is a clear distraction.
However, people like studies and a recent study that investigated the dangers of texting while driving, as well as talking on a cell phone, made some revealing findings–or confirmations. The study was performed by a team of University of Utah psychologists and tested men and women between the ages of 19 and 23. It used a driving simulator rather than actual vehicles.
The Governors Highway Safety Association is behind a ban on texting while driving and so is President Obama. The President just signed an executive order banning federal employees from texting while driving government vehicles. The new ban was signed at the conclusion of the Department of Transportation’s summit to address distracted driving. The White House has also clarified that the ban extends to federal workers in private vehicles if they’re driving on official government business, and it also encourages contractors doing business with the government to create bans of their own. The Department of Transportation also intends to seek a ban on texting and talking while driving for interstate bus and truck drivers. That sounds like a clear step in the right direction. [via egmCarTech] [Photo: indyplanet]
