Teen Girls Cell Phone Usage While Driving Twice That of Teen Boys, but the boys...

Inside Line says: Forget Baby on Board.

An entrepreneur needs to make some yellow

Distracted Teen on Board window signs to warn other drivers.

Edmunds Inside Line
By Rene Wisely
3/28/12

AURORA, Illinois — Big Brother caught little sister using her phone too much while driving.

A new in-car video study released this week by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reveals that teen girls are twice as likely as teen boys to use cell phones and other electronic devices while driving. While electronic devices were the most commonly observed distracted-driving activity for new teen drivers of both genders, video captured many other distractions as well.

Females were more likely to be observed reaching for an object in the vehicle (nearly 50 percent more likely than males) and eating or drinking (nearly 25 percent more likely) while driving.


Males, on the other hand, were roughly twice as likely to turn around in their seats while driving, and were also more likely to communicate with people outside of the vehicle.



As evidenced by the AAA study, the subject of distracted driving, particularly distractions involving the use of mobile devices, is commanding increasing attention across the country.

In her opening remarks yesterday at the Attentive Driving Forum: Countermeasures to Distraction in Washington, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman noted: "Our nation is at a deadly intersection of mobility and connectivity."

Hersman lauded an unprecedented move yesterday by the town of Chapel Hill, home of the University of North Carolina, which passed a complete ban on cellphone use — including hands-free — while driving.

Coincidentally, AAA's study, called Distracted Driving Among Newly Licensed Teen Drivers, is based on data and analysis of video clips collected as part of a three-part study of 50 North Carolina families with novice teen drivers by researchers at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center.

The first part looked at how parents supervise their teens during the learner's stage of a graduated driver's license, and the second examined how teen behaviors and driving conditions shift during the transition to unsupervised driving. For the third part, 7,858 clips from the first six months of unsupervised driving were re-analyzed to investigate distraction specifically.

Age makes drivers cocky as well, the study revealed. Those who use electronic devices, adjust controls and groom themselves while behind the wheel were more prevalent among the older teens in the study group, suggesting rapid changes in these behaviors as teens get more comfortable with driving.



The study also revealed that parents' presence in the car curtailed the distractions, yet when multiple teens rode as passengers, horseplay and loud conversation abounded. Drivers were six times as likely to have a serious incident when there was loud conversation in the vehicle, and were more than twice as likely to have a high g-force event — including swerving, hard braking or rapid acceleration — when there was horseplay.

Additionally, distracted drivers were three times as likely to take their eyes off the road when using electronic devices and were two-and-a-half times more likely to look away when engaged in other behaviors. On average, teen drivers using electronic devices took their eyes off the road for a full second longer.

"This new study provides the best view we've had about how and when teens engage in distracted driving behaviors believed to contribute to making car crashes the leading cause of death for teenagers," said AAA Foundation President and CEO Peter Kissinger.

Just the Facts:

• A new in-car video study of teen driver distractions released this week by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reveals that teen girls are twice as likely as teen boys to use cell phones and other electronic devices while driving.
• Females were more likely to be observed reaching for an object in the vehicle (nearly 50 percent more likely than males) and eating or drinking (nearly 25 percent more likely).
• Conversely, males were roughly twice as likely to turn around in their seats while driving, and were also more likely to communicate with people outside of the vehicle.

Insurance Risk Managers Favor Cellphone Ban

John Toay, president, SC Risk Mgt. Consulting and president, LPM Enterprises Inc., says, “As a former police-accident investigator I handled more cases caused by inattention than I can count.”

Property/Casualty 360
By: Caroline McDonald
1/2/2012

Even though the National Transportation Safety Board’s recommendation that all cellphone use be banned in automobiles has been nixed by theU.S.transportation secretary, the suggestion is applauded by some corporate and public-entity risk managers.

The mid-December recommendation by the NTSB calls for all 50 states and theDistrict of Columbia “to ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed to support the driving task) for all drivers.”

The safety recommendation also urges use of high-visibility enforcement to support the bans and implementation of targeted communication campaigns to inform motorists of the new law and the heightened enforcement.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, however, announced on Dec. 22 he won't back the proposal and supports hands-free driving.

Risk managers say they are in favor of a total ban of cell phone usage while behind the wheel.

Lori Seidenberg, vice president, enterprise risk management, and insurance risk manager with Centerline Capital Group inNew York Cityand a director of the Risk and Insurance Management Society Inc. notes, “As a risk manager, I support the implementation of a total ban on cell phone usage. Using cell phones while driving is a hazard for both the passengers in the car you are in and the cars around you.”

While some states allow hands-free usage while driving, Seidenberg says, “This, too, is hazardous, as you still need to look at your phone or PDA to answer or dial the call.”

She adds, “I can see a corporation's perspective, that they want travelling employees to be as efficient as possible” and that an employee driving a long distance might multitask by participating in conference calls or answering emails.

But she says corporations have to weigh the risks and decide which is more important: “employee productivity or a risk of injury or death by distracted driving?” Continue Reading

Hang Up and Drive (Editorial)

Distracted drivers are a menace, and they're not getting the message. But we don't need a broader law; we need more enforcement of laws already on the books.
Chicago Tribune
Editorials
12/23/2011

The National Transportation Safety Board wants all 50 states to ban cellphone use by drivers. No texting, no tweeting, no talking — not even on a hands-free phone.

It's a standard that goes beyond anything on the books in any state. The board has no authority to impose it. The data on accidents involving cellphones is inconclusive, the government is not our nanny, and eating a chili dog while driving is dangerous, too.

A nationwide ban will not happen.

That doesn't mean the NTSB isn't onto something. If you're not frightened by what's going on around you during your daily commute, you're not paying attention. Drivers are texting while flying down the expressways, sending emails in stop-and-go traffic on Lake Shore Drive, carrying on animated conversations while changing lanes with one hand on the phone and the other holding a Starbucks.

All of that is already illegal in Chicago and beyond. Have you noticed fewer people doing it? Neither have we.

A second agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, says distracted driving was a factor in more than 3,000 fatal accidents in 2010. It doesn't say how many involved texting, how many involved talking on the phone or how many involved reaching behind the seat to retrieve the toddler's fallen pacifier.

But one of those accidents provided the NTSB with a horrific anecdote to support last week's call for a comprehensive ban. A 19-year-old driver sent or received 11 texts in the 11 minutes before his pickup truck plowed into a tractor trailer near Gray Summit, Mo. The chain-reaction collision also involved two school buses. The teen driver and a student on one of the buses died, and 38 others were injured.

But a nationwide ban wouldn't have prevented that tragedy. Missouri already prohibits drivers under 21 from texting while driving. Thirty-five states prohibit texting by all drivers; 30 ban cellphone use by novice drivers; and 10 have outlawed the use of even hands-free phones. Hundreds of local governments have their own laws covering behind-the-wheel cellphone use. And we would argue that all of those prohibitions (and a lot more) are covered under broader distracted driving laws in force in most states, including Illinois. (Think about that, you in the gray car, with the eye makeup implements in both hands, gazing at yourself in the rearview mirror, while drifting lane to lane on Columbus Drive, in Grant Park.)

Still, a traffic safety commission survey found that 1 in 10 drivers — and half of those ages 21 to 24 — said they'd texted or emailed while behind the wheel. At any given moment, 1 in 100 drivers is texting, tweeting, emailing or web-surfing, a rate that's up 50 percent over the previous year. Most of them said they don't think it's dangerous.

While states have been busy passing laws to limit distractions, Americans have been acquiring all sorts of new gadgets that promote multitasking in the car. GPS systems; MP3 players; smartphones that enable users to play games, pay bills, order dinner or watch a movie while barreling down the Eisenhower. But the distractions aren't all high-tech. The worst local example we can think of involved a driver who struck and killed a motorcyclist while painting her nails.

Distracted drivers are a menace, and they're not getting the message. But we don't need a broader law; we need more enforcement of laws already on the books.

What if police pounced on behind-the-wheel texting with the same zeal applied to parking meter violations? What if those hated red-light cameras could bust you for talking on your handheld phone? If the risk of killing yourself or others isn't deterrent enough, maybe a ticket or three will get your attention.

It's time we all started taking these dangers seriously. Keep your hands (thumbs and all) on the wheel.

NTSB Wants to Ban Cell Phone Use While Driving

In 2009, nearly 5,500 fatalities and 500,000 injuries resulted from crashes involving a distracted driver, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The Washington Post
By: Michael Bolden
12/13/2011

The National Transportation Safety Board recommended a nationwide ban on driver use of personal electronic devices Tuesday, following its investigation into a deadly accident last year in Missouri.

NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman discussed the recommendations during a press conference after a meeting on that accident.

Take this poll: “Do you use your cell phone while driving?”

“According to [the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration], more than 3,000 people lost their lives last year in distraction-related accidents,”she said. “It is time for all of us to stand up for safety by turning off electronic devices when driving.”

While the NTSB investigates transportation and pipeline accidents and makes recommendations on safety rules and regulations, it has no power to implement them.

The NTSB’s recommendations urge all 50 states and the District ”to ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed to support the driving task).” According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, 35 states, including Maryland and Virginia, and the District ban texting while driving.

The NTSB has been investigating a deadly crash in Gray Summit, Missouri last year. A 19-year-old pickup driver sent 11 texts in the 11 minutes before before the accident, according to the NTSB, including one “right before impact.” The accident killed two people and injured 38. Continue Reading

Dear American Motorists: "If you can't stay AWAKE, then stay off the road."

School Transportation News
By Ryan Gray
11/7/11

Sponsored by the National Sleep Foundation, "Drowsy Driving Prevention Week" began Nov. 6 and concludes Nov. 12. According to a 2002 National Sleep Foundation study, half of all American adult drivers, especially young males, admitted to driving drowsy, and 20 percent said they had fallen asleep while behind the wheel.

Meanwhile, NHTSA estimates that drowsy driving causes 100,000 automobile crashes each year, which result in 71,000 fatalities and 1,550 fatalities. But NHTSA adds, drowsy driving can be the most difficult for police and crash investigators to detect and prove, unlike speeding, alcohol and drug use and weather.

"For more than 20 years fatigue has been recognized as a transportation danger on the NTSB's Most Wanted List," said NTSB's Hersman. "Tired drivers pose a safety risk because fatigue can degrade every aspect of human performance. It slows reaction time, impairs judgment, and degrades memory."

Fatigued driving among all drivers, including those with their CDLs, remains a hot-button issue for the NTSB, which only makes recommendations to U.S. Department of Transportation agencies, states and organizations on how to improve the nation's highway safety.

In addition to the common-sense recommendation that all drivers including transportation professionals get adequate sleep before getting behind the wheel, NTSB advises regulators to play a larger role to play in establishing commercial hours-of-service regulations. NTSB also said employers must develop guidance and rules for proper screening, detection and treatment for sleep disorders like obstructive sleep apnea.

"Drowsy Driving Prevention Week is an ideal time to remind drivers that being well rested is a safety measure that can save lives 52 weeks a year," adde Hersman. "If you can't stay alert, then stay off the road."