Lost in the clamor for stricter distracted-driving laws, a study from April 2013 found discouraging patterns in the relationship between texting bans and traffic fatalities. As one might expect, single occupant vehicle crashes dip noticeably when a state legislature enacts a texting and driving ban. But the change is always short-lived, according to this study, which examined data from every state except Alaska from 2007 through 2010. Within months, the accident rate typically returned to pre-ban levels. The researchers, Rahi Abouk and Scott Adams of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, attribute this pattern to the "announcement effect," when drivers adjust their behavior to compensate for a perceived law enforcement threat—only to return to old habits when enforcement appears ineffectual. In other words, drivers might dial back their texting when they hear about a ban, but after they succumb to the urge once or twice and get away with it, they determine it's okay and keep doing it. "It's different than drunk driving," Adams said. Identifying intoxicated drivers is relatively easy, "you can give somebody a breathalyzer, you can have checkpoints." But with texting, "it's really hard [for policemen] to know" if someone's been texting. No one denies the dangers of texting while driving. In fact, 95 percent of AAA survey (PDF) respondents said texting behind the wheel was a "very" serious threat to their personal safety. But 35 percent of the same... |
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Showing posts with label Texting while driving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texting while driving. Show all posts
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Why Texting-While-Driving Bans Don't Work
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Woman was texting and driving when she caused fatal crash with trucker
Texting while driving creates an enhanced risk to millions of workers who carefully drive on the roads. While the Federal government has strictly enforced the no texting while driving rule, the states maintain a patchwork of confusing regulations and statutory prohibitions. Today's post is shared from nj.com.
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A Rahway woman who crashed into a pick-up on Routes 1&9 two weeks ago, killing the truck’s driver, has became the first person in Essex County to be charged with vehicular homicide allegedly caused by texting, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray said.
Jennifer Sahoye, 35, was initially charged with causing the Oct. 10 death of Carlos Carvalho, 58, while driving on a suspended license. But prosecutors say witnesses saw Sahoye texting when her Volvo sedan veered from the southbound express lanes of Routes 1&9, near the Route 78 interchange, into the southbound local lanes, striking Carvalho’s Ford pickup Carvalho, a welder, was on his way home from work. He was ejected from the truck after it flipped over and was pronounced dead at the scene. Prosecutors say their investigation, aided by witnesses who stopped after the crash, confirmed Sahoye was texting at the time of the crash. "A vehicle is a dangerous thing and driving requires the full attention of the driver," said Thomas Fennelly, the chief assistant prosecutor for Essex County. "Texting can take one's eyes off the road." Carvalho's family did not find out Sahoye was alleged to be... |
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Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Distracted Driving Accidents Echo Intoxication Caused Injuries
The New England Journal of Medicine reports that the activism against driving while intoxicated is beginning to be mirrored in distracted driving crashes. This parallel will probably cause workers' compensation courts and state legislature to shortly revisit the compensability of certain claims caused by employees who engage in distracted driving and will likely bar them from eligibility as workers compensation claims.
"As cell phone technology improved, texting while driving, which necessitates taking one’s eyes off the road, also became a major concern. The new term 'distracted driving' encompasses many behaviors that divert attention from driving, hampering awareness and performance and increasing risk."
The moral outrage being generated from distracted driving behavior will most likely mandate the imposition of technological changes to restrict cell phone use in moving vehicles. While that technology is being developed and deployed, workers and their employers should take heed of the growing public policy against such conduct.
"As cell phone technology improved, texting while driving, which necessitates taking one’s eyes off the road, also became a major concern. The new term 'distracted driving' encompasses many behaviors that divert attention from driving, hampering awareness and performance and increasing risk."
The moral outrage being generated from distracted driving behavior will most likely mandate the imposition of technological changes to restrict cell phone use in moving vehicles. While that technology is being developed and deployed, workers and their employers should take heed of the growing public policy against such conduct.
Related articles
- When the Boss Calls (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Employers Risks Increase From Cell Phone Use (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Employers Face Liability For Cell Phone Accidents (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- National Cell Phone Ban Proposed by Congress (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Police ticket 29 distracted drivers in Alberta over long weekend (calgaryherald.com)
Thursday, July 7, 2011
National Cell Phone Ban Proposed by Congress
Cell phone abuse while driving has been proposed by Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY4). Distracted driving accidents are soaring and are now emerging as a major cause of work-related accidents.
Distracted riving claims are a major liability issue for employers and their insurance carriers. Liability falls upon the employers for workers' compensation benefits, potential liability damages by innocent injured third-parties, and subject employers to fines by regulatory agencies such as The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
McCarthy, a victim of an accident caused by testing while driving, is a former nurse who has made public health and safety a hallmark of her tenure in Congress, has announced new federal legislation that would create a single national standard prohibiting the use of handheld mobile devices while driving.
“Driving while making a phone call, texting or using apps can be as dangerous as driving drunk, and much more common,” Rep. McCarthy said. “With some basic commonsense rules that are already in place in some parts of the country, we can reduce injuries and save lives in America.”
The Safe Drivers Act of 2011 focuses on two primary efforts. First, it directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish minimum regulations that ban the use of hand-held mobile devices on a public road while operating a moving or idling motor vehicle, except in the case of an emergency. There are exclusions, including voice-operated, vehicle-integrated devices, as well as voice-operated GPS systems.
The bill also requires the DOT to conduct a study on distracted driving, focusing particularly on the issue of cognitive distraction and the impact of distraction on young and inexperienced drivers. In two years, the DOT must report the findings of this study to Congress and provide recommendations for revising the minimum distracted driving prohibitions and penalties states must comply with.
The penalty for not complying with the DOT’s minimum standards within two years of enactment would be a withholding of 25 percent of a state’s federal highway transportation funding.
The legislation is modeled after the nation’s federal Blood Alcohol Content standard, the violation of which also results in a withholding of federal transportation funds (though no state has been in violation of the federal BAC standard). States that are penalized can actually receive their funds as soon as they are in compliance with federal law. Click here to read the full legislation.
With a potpourri of laws in different states, including some states with no laws whatsoever limiting cell phone use while driving, distracted driving is rapidly becoming a deadly problem across the nation.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 5,474 people died as a result of driver distraction in 2009, making up about 16 percent of all fatalities as a result of auto crashes that year.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, using a cell phone makes a driver four times more likely to be in an accident that causes injury.
Right now, 13 states have no laws addressing handheld voice calls. They are Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Ten states have no laws addressing texting while driving. They are Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and South Dakota.
Eight states have no laws whatsoever limiting the use of cell phones while driving, whether for voice calls or texting. They are Florida, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and South Dakota.
Only 8 states prohibit all drivers – including novice drivers, bus drivers and regular adults – from using handheld cell phones while driving. They are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, immediately after New York banned cell phone use while driving in 2001, cell phone use declined an estimated 47 percent. Since then over time, handheld cell phone use by New York Drivers is down an estimated 24 percent.
Kelly Cline, a Buffalo, NY-area mother who lost her 20-year-old son A.J. Larson in a texting-while-driving accident in 2007 and co-founded the 1,000-member Families Against Texting While Driving organization, gave the Safe Drivers Act of 2011 a very personal endorsement.
“I know all too well the tragic outcome that distracted driving can lead to in a split second,” Ms. Cline said. “No one should lose their life because of an easily avoidable problem that society hasn’t made a serious issue of. I hope that what happened to my family serves as a wake-up call to our legislators, and I thank Congresswoman McCarthy for her leadership. Hopefully we can raise awareness about distracted driving and stop another tragedy from happening.”
Related articles
- Distracted Driving Increases Work Comp Liability (zoomsafe.com)
- Employers Face Liability For Cell Phone Accidents (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- CDC Urges Employers to Prohibit Cell Phone Use While Driving (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- IARC To Issue Report on Cell Phones (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- OSHA To Fine Employers for Distracted Driving Accidents (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Daly: Texting while driving should be considered a more serious offense (nydailynews.com)
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Employers Face a Triple Legal Threat for Distracted Driving Claims
Employers usually make an "after the fact" reaction to cell phone use that the result in distracted driving accidents. The mounting liability for employers, a triple economic threat, may soon change their attitude to adopt an improved cell phone safety culture.
Employers who have no policy in-place or enforcement protocol, passive or active, seem to be in the majority according to a recently released survey conducted by ZoomSafer Inc. The company offers several products to actively stop cellphone use while driving. Their survey of over 500 business managers reveals that 32% of companies have knowledge or evidence of vehicle cashes that have occurred as a result of distractions stemming from employee use of cell phone while driving. Of the 54% of the companies with a defined cell phone policy, more than half, 27.3%, created that policy only after an incident occurred.
Employers are now faced with a triple threat of legal actions including: workers' compensation claims from their employees, liability law suits from the innocent individual who was injured, and now an OSHA fine. It is anticipated that these economic factors will have a major impact in creating an improved cellphone safety culture.
For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman 1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.
Related articles
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- Click It or Ticket Campaign --- May 23--June 5, 2011 (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- MIT studies how age affects distracted driving (autoblog.com)
Friday, April 29, 2011
CDC Urges Employers to Prohibit Cell Phone Use While Driving
The US Centers of Disease Control (CDC) released its annual census of work related fatalities and identified cell phone use as a major cause of employee deaths. CDC urged employers to prohibit texting while driving. A safety initiative by employers will go along way to reducing workers' compensation costs.
"What is already known on this topic?
Highway transportation crashes are the leading cause of occupational fatalities in the United States.
"What is added by this report?
Occupational highway transportation fatality rates declined 2.8% annually during 2003–2008, and groups at greatest risk for occupational highway transportation deaths (e.g., workers aged ≥55 years and truck occupants) differ from those identified for highway transportation deaths in the general motoring public.
"What are the implications for public health practice?
Employers need to know more about the fatality risks to workers from highway transportation crashes, and employer-based strategies (e.g., requiring the use of safety belts in fleet vehicles, restricting cellular telephone use while driving, and allowing for adequate travel time)
"What is already known on this topic?
Highway transportation crashes are the leading cause of occupational fatalities in the United States.
"What is added by this report?
Occupational highway transportation fatality rates declined 2.8% annually during 2003–2008, and groups at greatest risk for occupational highway transportation deaths (e.g., workers aged ≥55 years and truck occupants) differ from those identified for highway transportation deaths in the general motoring public.
"What are the implications for public health practice?
Employers need to know more about the fatality risks to workers from highway transportation crashes, and employer-based strategies (e.g., requiring the use of safety belts in fleet vehicles, restricting cellular telephone use while driving, and allowing for adequate travel time)
This is entirely consistent with findings reported by Jeffrey S. Hickman, Ph.D, of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. A driver while texting has a 23.24 times chance of having a motor vehicle accident.
The new initiative by US OSHA to focus on both education and enforcement is a consistent and rational approach to lowering transportation fatalities. OSHA recently announced its intent to fine employers who permit and encourage texting while driving.
For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman 1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.
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- OSHA To Fine Employers for Distracted Driving Accidents (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
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- OSHA at 40 (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
Monday, April 18, 2011
OSHA To Fine Employers for Distracted Driving Accidents
OSHA has announced an aggressive program to combat "The Number 1 Killer of Workers," Distracted Driving. The announcement was made today by Dr. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA).
The enforcement program was described by Michaels at a symposium on the prevention of Occupationally-Related Distracted Driving conference hosted by Johns Hopkins University. Following the policy announced by President Obama in his Executive Order banning texting while driving, OSHA is calling upon all employers to ban texting while driving.
It is the intention of OSHA to provide education and enforcement on the issue of distracted driving. OSHA will investigate motor vehicle accidents, including cell phone records, and will issue citations and fine employers where an accident involved texting while driving. While OSHA has juridiction over employers, and not employees, it hopes to encourage all employers to declare motor vehicles a "text free zone."
The enforcement program was described by Michaels at a symposium on the prevention of Occupationally-Related Distracted Driving conference hosted by Johns Hopkins University. Following the policy announced by President Obama in his Executive Order banning texting while driving, OSHA is calling upon all employers to ban texting while driving.
It is the intention of OSHA to provide education and enforcement on the issue of distracted driving. OSHA will investigate motor vehicle accidents, including cell phone records, and will issue citations and fine employers where an accident involved texting while driving. While OSHA has juridiction over employers, and not employees, it hopes to encourage all employers to declare motor vehicles a "text free zone."
Related articles
- OSHA at 40 (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Distracted Driving Workers Compensation Claim Draws Major Public Attention (workers-compensation.blogspot.com
- NIOSH Supports Efforts to Ban Distracted Driving
- The Trend to Exclude Distracted Driving from Workers' Compensation Coverage
- Are Driving Distractions Within the Course of the Employment
- Employee Cell Phone Chat Results in $5.2 Million Payment to Worker by Employer
Sunday, September 19, 2010
The Trend to Exclude Distracted Driving From Workers' Compensation Coverage
The trend nationally is to prohibit the use of cell phones in motor vehicles. Such a ban would make use of a cellphone while working a deviation from employment and accidents involving cell phone use at work would then be considered a deviation from employment and excluded from workers' compensation coverage,
Citing cell phone usage while driving, the Federal Government is making a major initiative to get workers off cell phone while at work. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced the agenda for the second national Distracted Driving Summit to be held on September 21st , 2010 in Washington, DC.
Building on the success of last year’s summit, Secretary LaHood will convene leading transportation officials, safety advocates, law enforcement, industry representatives, researchers and victims affected by distraction-related crashes to address challenges and identify opportunities for national anti-distracted driving efforts. U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar will also speak at the summit.
For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman 1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered work related accident and injuries.
“Thousands of people are killed or injured every year in accidents caused by distracted drivers,” said Secretary LaHood. “One year after our first national Distracted Driving Summit, we will reconvene to take stock of our progress and reassess the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. I look forward to hearing insights from our distinguished panelists and guests, and know that by working together, we will save lives.”
The 2010 Distracted Driving Summit will be live webcast at www.distraction.gov, enabling the participation of people around the country. US employers are urged to set policies to prohibit the use of cell phones at work. "Use a variety of organizational channels to communicate with employees the company's commitment to safety and health and specifically to the nonuse of cell phones and texting. Make it clear to your employees that the expectation is that they will NOT talk or text on their cell phones while driving on company time or in company vehicles. Have employees sign a contract that says they will not violate the organization’s ban on texting and driving."
Many State Laws already ban the use of cell phones while driving. Sample legislation to be used as a starting point for states crafting new laws to prohibit texting while driving has been encouraged.
Making the workplace safer is a major purpose of workers' compensation law. Public policy will certainly support the effort to end distracted driving. The trend to exclude coverage for distracted driving is a signifiant move in the right direction to help workers steer clear of accidents.
Related Articles
- Working While Texting: The New Workers Compensation Defense
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- Employee Cell Chat Results in $5.2 Million Payment to Widow by Employer
- LaHood accuses lobbying campaign of undermining efforts to fight distracted driving (taragana.com)
- Lobbyists Try to Reframe Distracted Driving Issue (bits.blogs.nytimes.com)
- No Matter Who is on the Phone, Cell Phones are a Distraction in the Car (psychologytoday.com)
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