Advocacy Group Calls for Stiffer Penalties Against Truckers Texting
February 23, 2012 | Author Don Jacobs, Trial Attorney
According to the National Traffic Safety Board, about 5,000 Americans die each year in passenger vehicles when involved in trucking accidents. The advocacy group Semi Truck Accident Victims Center is calling for tougher actions against truck drivers who use their cell phones when driving.
“We think this number is going to increase because of poor at best enforcement of laws governing talking on a cell phone or texting while driving a semi truck or tractor trailer,” says the group.
According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, 35 states and the District of Columbia already have bans on texting and driving.
A study from 2009 by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that truck drivers who were texting while behind the wheel were 23 times more at risk of being in an accident or “near crash event” than those not distracted by their cell phones.
When the study considered truckers simply talking on the phone, the researchers found there was 1.3 times the risk without the distraction.
While just talking wasn’t a huge leap in risk, dialing or even just reaching were much bigger risks. Dialing a cell phone made the risk for a crash or near-crash event 5.9 times as high as non-distracted driving. Reaching for an electronic device made the risk of crash or near-crash event 6.7 times more likely.
Texting while driving a semi truck in the study was the worst. The research showed that texting not only had the highest risk for an accident or near-crash (20 times worse than driving without using a phone), it also kept the drivers’ eyes off the road the longest, at 4.6 seconds over a six-second interval.
Does Apple’s Siri Make Driving and Cell Phone Use Safer?
February 21, 2012 | Author Don Jacobs, Trial Attorney
There has been a strong movement on state and federal levels to legislate against using cell phones while driving. It really came into focus late last year when the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) issued a recommendation that state governments ban all use of cell phones behind the wheel.
One of the byproducts of this movement is companies trying to find ways to market to people who are conscious of the distractions, but still want to find a way to communicate while driving. For instance, Picitup developed the smartphone app iOnRoad which offers collision warnings and alerts the driver if they are drifting out of their lane.
Technology continues its march forward, getting smarter and less reliant on our physical interaction. One example is Apple’s new app Siri, which acts as a personal assistant. All you have to do is talk and it will answer questions, make phone calls and text people.
Unfortunately, like any technology (at least in 2012) Siri is not perfect. In fact, some may say it’s flawed. Oregonian writer Joseph Rose recently tested Siri on our typically wet Portland roads, trying to text hands-free while driving. He ran into some difficulties in getting a simple text message sent, trying repeatedly to get the task done. According to Rose, it took him five tries to get a text sent. Not exactly ideal (or safe) when in traffic.
Even if Siri works perfectly for you, there is plenty of evidence showing that hands-free communications is dangerous as well. The problem doesn’t just lie in physically handling a phone while driving, it’s also the conversation itself that is a distraction.
“As long as one activity involves uncertainty about what might be happening next, then you need some spare capacity to have the mental radar to be able to detect those signals and to be able to execute the responses you need in order to deal with them,” said Ray Klein, a Canadian psychology professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
Posted in Dristracted Driving
Smartphone App Developed for Pedestrian Safety
February 5, 2012 | Author Don Jacobs, Trial Attorney
Last month, I wrote about the smartphone app iOnRoad. Created by Picitup, the app offers collision warnings and other features for drivers. Now there’s a new addition to the small but growing world of road safety applications, but this time the makers are hoping to lower the incidents of pedestrian injuries.
Researchers at Dartmouth and the University of Bologna in Italy have developed an app that warns users of approaching vehicles. It has its limitations, the major one being that it only works when the phone is being used on an active call. However, the app’s main reason for development was to help pedestrians who are distracted (talking on their cell phone).
WalkSafe, which was developed by a group led by Andrew Campbell, professor of computer science at Dartmouth and head of the Smartphone Sensing Group, beeps and vibrates when users are in the path of an oncoming vehicle. It can detect vehicles going at least 30 miles an hour and from 50 meters away (164 feet).
The group is currently working on improving the app by speeding up the recognition algorithm. WalkSafe only works on Android phones.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, pedestrian fatalities account for about 12 percent of all traffic fatalities. There are about 4,000 pedestrian deaths each year. The good news is that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says those numbers dropped by seven percent from 2008 to 2009 and by 14 percent since 2000.
Posted in Pedestrians
Driving While Sick as Dangerous as DUI
February 3, 2012 | Author Don Jacobs, Trial Attorney
There are plenty of ways people can become a danger behind the wheel. One of the least talked about possible dangers is driving while sick… until now.
A new study out of the UK shows that driving with a cold can be just as bad as driving while under the influence of alcohol. More specifically, the research team found that having a cold may be equivalent to drinking over four double shots of whiskey.
The researchers gave drivers who were experiencing cold symptoms computerized tests. What they found was that suffering from a cold resulted in diminished reaction times and trouble properly navigating curves and braking in a timely manner. Overall, the researchers estimate about a 50 percent drop in driving ability.
There are physical impairments. This would include sneezing, coughing and watery eyes that could make drivers veer or otherwise navigate the roads improperly. Then there are mental impairments. A person’s mood can affect their driving along with being tired or on cold medicine.
“Commencing a journey in such a state would certainly be irresponsible and could be held as an aggravating factor in any accident that lead to a death or serious injury, turning a careless act into a dangerous one,” wrote Steve Rounds of the Central Motorway Police Group in England.
Washington State Trooper Keith Leary thinks the study should be a wake-up call to those who are sick and don’t have to be behind the wheel.
“You should be evaluating yourself,” he said. “Can I drive safely while I’m feeling as ill as I am?”
Posted in Car Accident
Oregon Distracted Driving Law Now Applies to Everyone
January 28, 2012 | Author Don Jacobs, Trial Attorney
Oregon has had distracted driving legislation on the books for a couple years now, but there was an exception given to people needing it for their job. That’s no longer the case, at least for people who exploited it as a loophole.
Starting this month, all Oregon drivers have to put their cell phones down when behind the wheel. If you are stopped by police for using your phone, work is no longer a viable excuse. While the exception may have been put into the law to protect law enforcement and medical professionals who use phones in emergency situations and are required as part of their job, it turned into a loophole that many others ended up exploiting. The new law will still allows emergency responders and roadside assistance workers to use hand-held cellphones. All drivers can still use hands-free devices.
Federal Crack Down Hits Commercial Drivers
The federal government has used its authority over interstate commerce to place a ban on handheld cellphone use by all commercial drivers, including truck and bus drivers. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the new law will affect about four million commercial drivers.
While these are welcomed changes in the law, it’s not a magic wand that will erase all distracted driving. Citizens need to understand the dangers and change their habits.
“How many more lives will be lost before we, as a society, change our attitudes about the deadliness of distractions?” asks National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Debbie Hersman.
According to the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2010, more than 3,000 people died in crashes that were attributed to distracted driving.
Posted in Dristracted Driving
