Driven to Distraction

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Driven to Distraction
20
Tue, 07-21-2009 - 10:46am

Driven to Distraction


U.S. Withheld Data on Risks of Distracted Driving

In 2003, researchers at a federal agency proposed a long-term study of 10,000 drivers to assess the safety risk posed by cellphone use behind the wheel.


They sought the study based on evidence that such multitasking was a serious and growing threat on America’s roadways.


But such an ambitious study never happened. And the researchers’ agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, decided not to make public hundreds of pages of research and warnings about the use of phones by drivers — in part, officials say, because of concerns about angering Congress.


On Tuesday, the full body of research is being made public for the first time by two consumer advocacy groups, which filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for the documents. The Center for Auto Safety and Public Citizen provided a copy to The New York Times, which is publishing the documents on its Web site.


In interviews, the officials who withheld the research offered their fullest explanation to date.


More see link.......


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/technology/21distracted.html

Research on cell-phone-use-while-driving quashed by feds


http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2009/07/21/research-on-cell-phone-use-while-driving-quashed-by-feds/?cxntfid=blogs_jay_bookman_blog


You’ve seen it done.


You’ve done it yourself.


And you probably know that it’s dangerous.


However, research compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and now released thanks to a lawsuit documents the high risks involved in using the cell phone while driving. (We won’t even go into texting, which tanks the danger to whole ‘nother level.)


According to the New York Times:



The highway safety researchers estimated that cellphone use by drivers caused around 955 fatalities and 240,000 accidents over all in 2002….


The research mirrors other studies about the dangers of multitasking behind the wheel. Research shows that motorists talking on a phone are four times as likely to crash as other drivers, and are as likely to cause an accident as someone with a .08 blood alcohol content.


The three-person research team based the fatality and accident estimates on studies that quantified the risks of distracted driving, and an assumption that 6 percent of drivers were talking on the phone at a given time. That figure is roughly half what the Transportation Department assumes to be the case now.


The Times reports that the data in question were available back in 2003, but officials at the Department of Transportation blocked public release, fearing the agency would draw punitive action by congressional budget committees and criticism by the cell phone industry.


Rather than risk getting people angry, the federal agency charged with highway safety chose to just keep quiet about it, ignoring the fact that its silence probably contributed to the deaths of hundreds of people a year. Even now, the data are becoming available only because outside groups filed lawsuits forcing its release.




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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 11:49am

My state has a 'hands free option only' (like


Community Leader
Registered: 04-05-2002
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 1:22pm
It surprises me that there are laws on the books in some states that you can't text and drive. Why do people need such common sense laws? I know it's because it happens but how stupid have people become?










iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 1:55pm

http://www.ct.gov/dmv/lib/dmv/20/29/cellphon.pdf


Your state's laws are similar to CT's laws. Unfortunately I seen people on cell phones all the time. At $125 fine per ticket the state could make some serious money.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 1:58pm

"how stupid have people become?"


LOL And they're reproducing.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2002
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 2:04pm

**It surprises me that there are laws on the books in some states that you can't text and drive. Why do people need such common sense laws? I know it's because it happens but how stupid have people become?**


I've seen people using laptops and driving.Before cell phones, during my commute in the Bay Area, it was people shaving, brushing their teeth, putting on make-up (doing 70!.) There have always been people that are this stupid. Maybe, in the past, not all of us were comfortable doing our morning toilette in front of fellow commuter. But now it seems people don't mind discussing their colostomy, in a restaurant, on their cell phone. People from the Walkman age on, tell me, I've grown up with something electronic attached to my body my smart phone is like an addendage to me. I sleep with it next to me.



Community Leader
Registered: 04-05-2002
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 2:32pm
It reminds me of a really old Seinfeld skit, before cell phones. He joked that we see homeless people on the streets having conversations. What the rest of us didn't know is that there is someone on the other side of town responding and having a conversation with that person.





Community Leader
Registered: 04-05-2002
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 2:34pm
Not only reproducing but the new generation is even more connected than the old!










iVillage Member
Registered: 03-16-2007
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 3:00pm
Oh...don't even get me started on this!
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Community Leader
Registered: 04-05-2002
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 5:10pm
If you were to poll people who drive poorly while talking on the cell phone, I'll bet they'd be the first to tell you that they're great drivers, even while talking on the phones.





Avatar for claddagh49
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2004
Wed, 07-22-2009 - 5:48pm
I think the guy that ran into me on his motorcycle

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