Driving Distractions Must Be Curbed

Research shows that motorists talking on the phone are four times as likely to crash as other drivers, and are as likely to cause an accident as someone with a 0.08 percent blood-alcohol content.
The government would never do anything to deliberately harm anyone, right? There is one shocking situation that illustrates the complicity of government officials in sometimes allowing citizens to be harmed deliberately.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gathered hundreds of pages of research and warnings about the hazards of drivers using cell phones. The information was withheld from the public in 2003 out of fear of angering Congress, the New York Times reported. The former head of the traffic safety agency, Jeffrey Runge, told the Times that he was urged to withhold the findings to avoid antagonizing members of Congress who warned the agency against lobbying states. Runge said that transit officials told him that he could jeopardize billions of dollars of its financing if Congress thought the agency had crossed the line into lobbying, the Times reported.
 
Government Encouraged Dangerous Practices.
The failure of the Transportation Department to pursue the role of driving distractions in car crashes has resulted in traffic deaths and allowed multitasking while driving to grow. The highway safety research estimated that cell phone use by drivers caused approximately 955 deaths and 240,000 accidents overall in 2002. Multitasking behind the wheel has continued to grow by leaps and bounds in recent years. We can only imagine what the totals will be in 2009.

Research also shows that motorists talking on the phone are four times as likely to crash as other drivers, and are as likely to cause an accident as someone with a 0.08 percent blood-alcohol content. A brand new study has determined that the people who multitask the most are the worst at it. That is the amazing conclusion of researchers at Stanford University, who found that frequent multitaskers are more easily distracted and less able to ignore irrelevant information than peopel who use the damgerous practice less frequently.

The frightening and unregulated expansion of highway cell phone and text message multitasking has finally caught the attention of Congress. A bill in the Senate would ban motorists from texting or sending e-mails whild driving. "Nobody was texting five years ago," All of a sudden everybody is." The Shumer bill would force states to write laws to prohibit messaging in vehicles or risk losing 25 percent of their federal highway money. Thirteen states have driver texting bans in place or bans scheduled to become effective this year. The bill is strongly supported by the White House.
Despite all of the irrefutagle evidence, drivers continue to turn their vehicles into high-speed death bombs.
Public Alarmed
The public has recently become alarmed at the proliferation of inattentive driving. A vast majority of Americans Surveyed say they would now suppoet legislation restricting cell phone use while driving.

In a national survey, more than 75 percent of the respondents said they would be OK with a ban on teting messaging while driving, while about 66 percent would support banning cell phone use. A recent AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety survey found that 21 percent of Americans 16 and older said they had texted or e-mailed whild driving during the previous 30 days. This is a stunning statistic.

Wisconsin Rep. Jeff Smith is introducing a bill in the Wisconsin Legislature that prohibits a person from using a cellular device while driving, including verbal communications, texting, and e-mailing. Wisconsin is one of the frew states that lack any regulation in this area. Six states already ban cell phone for all drivers and texting while driving is banned in 17 states.

Drivers take their eyes off the road for approximately five seconds while doing it. At only 50 miles an hour, a driver travels 75 feet per second. While texting, a driver would typically travel 375 feet. this is much more than the length of a football field and it dramatizes the damgerous nature of this practice.

Everyone knows that ignoring driving distractions can lead to deadly crashes and life changing accidents. Despite all of the irrefutable evidence, drivers continue to turn their vehicles into high-speed death bombs. Making and taking calls, typing text messages, and posting to Facebook and Twitter is simply crazy. It is an out-of-control epidemic that is jeopardizing the lives and health of thousands of innocent people. Take extreme precautions while driving. Distracted drivers are extremely easy to spot.