LaHood to lead panel on ‘distracted driving’

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood will lead a panel next month with government officials, safety advocates, members of Congress and police to discuss “distracted driving.”
LaHood, citing fatalities caused by drivers sending text messages, said he wants the panel to issue a list of steps that will curb preventable accidents.
“We’ve learned from our efforts to get people to wear seat belts and to persuade them not to drive drunk that laws aren’t always enough,” LaHood said last week in a statement. “Often, you need to combine education with enforcement to get results.”
A recent study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that text messaging while driving increased the danger of a crash or near-accident 23 times.
Drivers of trucks and “heavy vehicles” who were text messaging took their eyes off the road for the longest period of any motorists distracted by mobile devices, at 4.6 seconds over a 6-second interval, the institute found. That equates to traveling the length of a football field at 55 miles per hour without looking at the road.
Talking on a mobile phone was less risky, since it let people keep their eyes on the road, the study found. Those drivers had a risk of a crash or near-crash that was 1.3 times higher than for drivers who weren’t distracted.
The findings are at odds with studies using simulators that found talking and listening to be as dangerous as visually distracting mobile phone tasks, the institute said. Such studies “greatly exaggerate the cell phone risk” by describing it as comparable to drunk driving, according to the institute.
“The tasks that draw the driver’s eyes away from the forward roadway were those with the highest risk,” according to the statement summarizing the research, which combined studies observing drivers for more than six million miles.
The Blacksburg, Va.-based institute recommended a ban on text messaging for all drivers.
In Rhode Island, Rep. Joseph M. McNamara, D-Warwick, has proposed a bill that would prohibit texting while driving. Supporters will push lawmakers for a vote when the General Assembly reconvenes, possibly next month.
Rep. Peter F. Kilmartin, D-Pawtucket, has also proposed prohibiting the use of handheld cell phones by motorists (but still allow hands-free devices).
The state Senate has already passed a bill that would ban texting while driving. &#8226