LaHood Promises Action on Texting Behind the Wheel
The U.S. Department of Transportation will unveil a set of recommendations Thursday on texting while driving and the broader topic of distracted driving, Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday, opening a two-day distracted driving summit. “We're not here simply to study the problem. We're here to come up with solutions,” LaHood said. “I don’t know if there’s any more important meeting that we can have at DOT than the meeting that will take place here in the next day and a half.”
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LaHood said nearly 6,000 people died last year in crashes involving a distracted driver and more than 500,000 were injured. More than 200 distracted driving bills have been introduced in 46 state legislatures, and six states and the District of Columbia already ban cellphone use while driving without a hands-free device, he said. “Every single time someone takes their eyes or their focus off the road -- even for just a few seconds -- they put their lives and the lives of others in danger.”
CTIA supports state but not federal legislation on texting while driving and believes driver education is critical, President Steve Largent said during a Wednesday afternoon panel. Largent noted that motor vehicle laws are traditionally a state, not a federal, matter. “The wireless industry’s approach to help raise consumer awareness on this issue has been multifaceted and has included legislative advocacy, public outreach, and consumer education,” he said. “We believe that all facets of this approach are necessary to make consumers fully aware that their first responsibility when driving is to drive safely.”
Largent said wireless devices are just one of many potential distractions for drivers. But he acknowledged that texting while driving is dangerous. “Text messaging usually requires drivers to take their hands off the wheel and their eyes off the road for extended periods of time,” he said. “That is incompatible with safe driving.” CTIA and the National Safety Council announced a joint education campaign focusing on the dangers of distracted driving to teens, called “On the Road, Off the Phone.”
LaHood, a former U.S. representative from Illinois, said Largent called him the day DOT announced the summit. Largent told him, “'We're on board. We're with you. We want to be helpful,’ and I appreciate that kind of leadership,” LaHood said.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., sponsor of a bill that would require states to ban texting while driving, said many states won’t act without a federal push. One study showed that texting while driving is more dangerous than driving while under the influence of alcohol, he said. “There has been a range of studies that have confirmed the dangers of using cellphones as well as other personal devices while driving,” Schumer said. “Texting almost overnight has become a major form of communications. … As technology has evolved and become more ingrained in our everyday lives, so has the number of ways that people can now use their cellphones while driving.” Texting while driving seems intuitively dangerous, he said. “But people do it. I guess they don’t seem to appreciate they're putting their own safety and the safety of everyone else in danger.”
“I do believe that distracted driving, especially texting while driving, presents a real and present danger,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., a co-sponsor of the anti- texting bill. “I've always believed that our laws and policies need to keep up with changes in technology, and that’s what we're experience now.”