Distracted Driving, Texting While Driving & Distracted Walking in the Media
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D.I.A.D. Media Coverage 2012:- The Vancouver Sun (Gerry Bellett) Article #1 & The Vancouver Sun (Gerry Bellett) Article #2 – The Bill Good Show CKNW Talk/980 - News1130Radio (Reaon Ford & Tammy Moyer Live On-Air Jan. 5 @ 9AM) – The Province (Sean Sullivan) – The Simi Sara Show Live On-Air Feb. 7 @ 2:05PM Hour 2 Podcast)
D.I.A.D. Media Coverage 2010-2011: GlobalTV BC (Elaine Yong) – Philip Till Show CKNW – The Vancouver Sun (Gillian Shaw) – CBC Radio (Lisa Christiansen, On The Coast & Jo-Ann Roberts, All Points West) – CFAX 1070 (Dave Dickson) – News1130 Radio: Mike Lloyd Distracted Driving Clip #1 & Mike Lloyd Distracted Driving Clip #2 – The Bill Good Show CKNW Talk/980 – The Province Article #1 & The Province Article #2
While I make every effort to keep this page current, for the most up-to-date stories, reports & studies on distracted driving, texting & driving, and distracted walking, please visit our Drop It And Drive Twitter feed.
Mar. 12, 2012 Texting And Walking Injuries On The Rise By Kate Merrill, WBZ-TV Texting has become such a habit for many of us that you might not even think twice about texting while walking down a crowded street. But texting on-the-go could mean trouble. On the Boston University campus it was easy to spot college students with their heads buried in their keyboards while walking between classes. And many of them admit they are so distracted they bump into people or posts a few times a week.
Feb. 14, 2012 2 distracted teens struck, killed by trains in Alberta, Ontario (CTV News Toronto, Staff Writer) Two strikingly similar tragedies in two very different parts of the country are underscoring the dangers of not being in tune with one’s surroundings when walking along train tracks.
Feb. 7, 2012 Distracted driving deaths in B.C. dropping – Advocate focuses on educating kids before they get behind the wheel (Sean Sullivan, The Province) As Lower Mainland RCMP prepare a crackdown on distracted drivers this month, a Surrey mom is targeting a demographic still years away from a learner’s permit. Karen Bowman, founder of Drop It and Drive, says teaching kids about the potentially fatal consequences of distracted driving may be the best way to reduce traffic fatalities.
Feb. 1, 2012 1,456 distracted driving tickets issued in Calgary over 4 months (Stephanie Massinon, Calgary Herald) Police say they are worried people are getting back into bad habits and are reminding drivers to pay attention. “Despite awareness campaigns and enforcement, we are now seeing more and more people taking the risk with their lives as well as the lives of others,” said traffic education officer Mike Hagen in a statement.
Jan. 31, 2012 780 distracted drivers ticketed in four months: Tougher enforcement coming in February, police warn Edmonton police ticketed nearly 780 people for distracted driving in their first four months enforcing Alberta’s new law. Acting Staff Sgt. Barry Maron said motorists can expect to see a crackdown in February on drivers trying to text, groom themselves or eat snacks while they navigate city streets or idle at red lights.
Jan. 31, 2012 Texting teen driver strikes man in crosswalk A 17-year-old St. Albert girl was texting while driving when she struck a pedestrian in a crosswalk, RCMP say. The teen was travelling west of Bellerose Drive around 10:40 a.m. Saturday when she struck a 27-year-old man who was in a crosswalk near Ironwood Point.
Jan. 30, 2012 What happens when you text and drive? Texting and driving don’t mix, the RCMP says, and the CBC’s Dani Mario put that to the test on Monday. Mario was part of a media contingent that used virtual simulators and went out on the driving track at the RCMP Training Academy.
Jan. 25, 2012 Distracted Teen Driving: The Hazards of Having Friends in the Car It’s a well-known fact that driving with friends can increase a teen’s crash risk, which is why many states have laws restricting the number of passengers that teen drivers can transport. Now researchers from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm insurance have shed light on why teens’ driving skills can spin out of control when friends are in the car.
Jan. 25, 2012 Take the next step: Ban hands-free devices (The Record, New Westminster, BC) It doesn’t take a genius to figure that something as overtly foolish as texting while driving is riskier still. Between Feb. 1, 2010, and Sept. 30, 2011, police issued 46,008 tickets to drivers using hand-held electronic devices, and another 1,372 tickets were issued for emailing or texting. Yet we see still see people regularly flouting the law, driving with their cellphones plastered against their ears or trying to text while stopped in traffic.
Jan. 23, 2012 Parents Push Teens To Drive Stick to Avoid Distracted Driving Just when an earlier study suggested that teenagers today prefer owning smartphones and electronic devices over owning a car, a local study by news channel Sacramento News10 revealed that there is a resurgence of manual transmission automobiles for young drivers. Worried about teen drivers texting and driving, parents have started a trend of purchasing stick shift vehicles for their teens in hopes to keep them focused on the task at hand rather than diverting their attention away from the road.
Jan. 23, 2012 Driving under influence of technology (The Daily Cougar.com by Alejandro Caballero) When HIV was discovered to be the cause of AIDS, various organizations came together to pursue an aggressive educative campaign. Early on, they realized that they could not stop people from having sex, so they focused on education. They taught and provided people with tools for having safe sex. Finally, after years of this campaign the results have shown that it worked. People are having safer sex. Instead of merely criminalizing texting and driving, perhaps the government should take a page from the HIV-playbook and begin educating the masses on how to text responsibly.
Jan. 19, 2012 MobileLutions Announces Distracted Driving Study on Liability Cost-of-Risk (SFGate) MobileLutions and Robert Puelz, Ph.D. of SMU’s Edwin L. Cox School of Business announced today the initiation of an academic study on how technology that addresses distracted driving, such as MobiLoc, can impact an organization’s fleet liability cost-of-risk. The goal is to gain insight into the accident frequency and severity impact of a technology solution to control cell phone usage.
Jan. 18, 2012 FOR THE RECORD: Steer clear of distracted drivers (Wicked Local by Gregory Mathis) Let’s face it — driving is dangerous. You literally take your life into your own hands every time you get behind the wheel of a car, SUV, four-wheel-drive pickup truck, motor home, motorcycle… whatever your means of transportation. Distracted driving is nothing new, although “mobile” technology has taken the potential dangerousness to a whole new level.
Jan. 18, 2012 Distracted Driving And Teen Driver Safety: AAA’s Big Push In 2012 (Family Car Guide, by Suzanne Kane) With all the attention distracted driving has been getting in recent months, it should come as no surprise that the AAA is prioritizing its legislative efforts this year to focus on that issue and a related one involving teen driver safety.
Jan. 17, 2012 New Federal Regulations Aim To Make Sure Truck Drivers Aren’t Sleep Deprived (Injury Board Blog Network, Lindsay Rakers) Drowsy driving is a serious highway safety issue in the United States. Unlike other risky driving behaviors (distracted driving) —like drinking and driving or texting while driving—the vast majority of us are probably guilty of driving when we’re low on sleep and feeling the exhaustion of a long day. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates—conservatively—that drowsy driving causes more than 100,000 crashes a year, resulting in 40,000 injuries and 1,550 deaths.
Jan. 17, 2012 Distracted Driving and Teen Driver Safety Top AAA’s State Legislative Safety Priorities for 2012 (PRNewswire) Recent public attention to distracted driving will likely spur additional legislative activity as states convene their 2012 sessions, according to AAA. Laws that ban texting while driving and that improve teen driver safety again top AAA’s nationwide legislative agenda to improve highway safety.
Jan. 16, 2012 Distracted Walking? Crashes Involving Headphones Skyrocket We’ve all heard of distracted driving, but it turns out distracted walking is dangerous, too. In the past six years, injuries and deaths to pedestrians wearing headphones more than tripled, according to a new study by the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.
Jan. 16, 2012 6 Ways To End Distracted Driving Once upon a time, the biggest preoccupations for drivers involved keeping the kids quiet in the back seat or finding the right button on the 8-track player. Now, we have phone calls, text messages, emails, and apps to juggle. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has been very vocal about his desire to curb distracted driving and limit drivers’ access to mobile phones. Automakers are trying to develop technology to address such concerns, while simultaneously acknowledging that mobile phones are an important part of modern life.
Jan. 9, 2012 Distracted driving deaths down, fines up in Lower Mainland (Jeff Nagel, Surrey North Delta Leader) A ticketing blitz against distracted drivers in the Lower Mainland is being credited for a steep drop in associated car crash fatalities not seen elsewhere in B.C. Twenty-six motor vehicle deaths in 2011 were blamed on driver distraction in the Lower Mainland, down 42 per cent from 45 in 2010, the year B.C. banned the handheld use of cellphones and other devices.
Jan. 9, 2012 How built-in car technology affects your driving – Many treat their cars like their offices (Mike Lloyd, News1130) It’s all about the “intelligent features” at the recent North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Features like a blind spot monitoring system, lane-keeping systems, and voice activated controls for phones, GPS, email and Internet. One man says he can’t stand having any kind of screen for the front seat. “I have actually seen people drive and watch a movie at the same time, it’s brutal.” He adds automakers should take more responsibility. “They are to blame; they’re the ones putting it in there.”
Jan. 7, 2012 Distracted driving tickets on the rise – Too many drivers not paying attention behind the wheel (CBC News) Police in B.C. issued 34 per cent more tickets for distracted driving in 2011 than the previous year, according to the provincial government. In a written release, the province said using a hand-held cellphone is the top cause of distracted driving, and evidence shows talking on a cellphone while driving reduces a driver’s field of vision by 50 per cent and quadruples the risk of causing a motor vehicle crash. “Could any phone call or text message be worth that risk?” said Solicitor General Shirley Bond.
Jan. 6, 2012 $8.8 Million Verdict in Texting Death, But No Florida Law Against Distracted Driving An $8.8 million award to the family of a Miami woman killed in a texting while driving accident has drawn attention to Florida’s lack of distracted driving laws. Myriam del Socorro Lopez and her husband were driving through Miami in 2008 when their car was struck by defendant Luis Cruz-Govin, then 17. Lopez was killed in the accident, while her husband suffered substantial injuries. According to phone company records produced by lawyers for Lopez’s family, Cruz-Govin was texting his girlfriend when the accident occurred.
Jan. 6, 2012 BC claims 16 lives saved so far by distracted driving laws - 47,000 drivers ticketed in a year and a half (Jesse Johnston, News1130) The BC government says deaths and serious injuries are down by about 12 per cent since a ban on using cell phones while driving was introduced two years ago. The province claims the legislation saved 16 lives between February, 2010 and July 31, 2011. However, Solicitor General Shirley Bond is alarmed that 68 people were hurt in 50 crashes where distracted driving was a factor over the same period.
Jan. 5, 2012 Lots of people still distracted behind the wheel in BC (Mike Lloyd, News1130) It’s been almost two years since BC’s distracted driving laws were brought in, and News1130 is on the commute finding out out how many drivers are still disobeying them. “Yeah, I still see so many people holding their phones, even at their ear, in plain view,” says Jan, who drives the Sea to Sky Corridor to Vancouver every day.
Jan. 5, 2012 Mother leads charge on ‘distracted driving’ – Too many drivers are ignoring the ban on using hand-held devices behind the wheel, she says (Gerry Bellett, The Vancouver Sun) Drop It And Drive founder Karen Bowman, shown with her daughter Kylee, will speak at an international conference on distracted driving in Toronto in March.B.C’s two-year-old ban on using hand-held electronic devices while driving isn’t working, according to Surrey’s Karen Bowman, who founded a distracted-driving prevention organization called Drop It And Drive (DIAD).
Jan. 4, 2012 Surrey mom leads charge on ‘distracted driving’ (Gerry Bellett, The Vancouver Sun) Karen Bowman is founder of DIAD (Drop It And Drive) an education and advocacy group at her Surrey home on Tuesday. They want people to stop texting and using cellphones while driving. Three months after starting DIAD her daughter Kylee (left) was involved in a car accident in which distracted driving was suspected of being the cause. B.C’s two-year-old ban on using hand-held electronic devices while driving isn’t working, according to Surrey’s Karen Bowman, who founded a distracted-driving prevention organization called Drop It And Drive (DIAD). “I can’t leave my house and not see more people than I can count texting or phoning while driving,” said Bowman, who founded DIAD in September 2010.
