Fido Can Be As Bad A Distraction As Texting While You’re Driving

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Posted on 24th August 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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You can add pets to the list of driver distractions that can lead to accidents, according to the AAA.

http://www.aaanewsroom.net/Main/Default.asp?CategoryID=7&ArticleID=789

A recent survey by AAA and Kurgo found that one in five respondents admitted to driving with a dog in their lap. Since Kurgo makes pet-restraint products, some skeptics might question the objectivity of this survey. Is Kurgo just looking to sell more pet harnesses?

But despite that, the survey results seem kosher to us.

In a press release, the AAA said that while people often like to take their “canine companions” on errands with them, “in a vehicle this can mean added distractions for the driver.”

AAA and Kurgo asked dog owners how often they drive with their dog and about their habits behind the wheel. “The survey found that drivers not only love to bring Fido along, but they also often engage in risky behaviors when man’s best friend is along for the ride,” according to the press release.

Thirty-one percent of the survey respondents admitted to being distracted by their dog while driving. And 59 percent have participated in at least one distracting behavior while driving with their dog, according to the survey.

More than half (55 percent) have pet their dog while driving, and one in five allowed their dog to sit in their lap (21 percent).

Other distracting behaviors drivers admitted to include giving food and water to their dog (7 percent) and playing with their dog (5 percent). These behaviors can distract the driver and increase the risk of a crash.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has found that looking away from the road for only two seconds doubles your risk of being in a crash.

An overwhelming 80 percent of respondents stated that they have driven with their pets on a variety of car trips including day trips, local errands and leisure trips, the pet store, dog parks and to work. However only 17 percent use any form of pet restraint system when driving with their dog.

“Use of a pet restraint system, such as those available from Kurgo, can aid in limiting distractions and help protect your pet,” the press release says.

“Restraining your pet when driving can not only help protect your pet, but you and other passengers in your vehicle as well,”  said Jennifer Huebner-Davidson, AAA National, Traffic Safety Programs manager “An unrestrained 10-pound dog in a crash at 50 mph will exert roughly 500 pounds of pressure, while an unrestrained 80-pound dog in a crash at only 30 mph will exert 2,400 pounds of pressure. Imagine the devastation that can cause to your pet and anyone in the vehicle in its path.”

Here’s where the press release gives us the full hard sell from Kurgo.

“There are a variety of reasonably priced products available to help dog owners reduce distractions their pets might cause while driving while keeping them safe,” it says. ” There have been many recent innovations in this market from Kurgo and others to make these products more comfortable for the dog and convenient to use for the owner. AAA recommends owners utilize a restraint system anytime they are driving with their pet—even close to home. Pet restraint products, such as those from Kurgo, are available at local pet stores nationwide. To find a dealer near you, visit Kurgo.com.”

I wasn’t aware of it, but AAA offers a variety of services for pet owenrs. For example, it has a book for those who plan to take their pets on a trip, entited ”Traveling with Your Pet: The AAA PetBook,” which includes pet-friendly AAA Approved property listings and advice on transporting pets.

 The book also features information on how to enter the annual AAA PetBook Photo Contest sponsored by Best Western. Entry deadline is Nov. 30 and the winning pets will appear on a cover of the next edition. To enter, visit AAA.com/petbook.

AAA members can also save on services for their pet through the Show Your Card & Save program. Members save 10 percent on pet supplies at Target.com and 10 percent on pet-sitting and dog-walking services at home or on the road with Fetch! Pet Care.

Prescriptions for family pets that can be filled at a traditional pharmacy may also be eligible for a AAA discount. 

 

New Jersey Drivers Are Doing More Texting, But Using Hand-Held Cellphones Less

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Posted on 25th July 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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Here’s frightening news: Despite celebrities like Oprah Winfrey warning people that vehicles are a “No Phone Zone,” last year New Jersey drivers did more texting while behind the wheel than ever.

Some 25 percent of Jersey drivers said they have texted while driving in the past few years, a 25 percent increase from last year, when only 21 percent said they had done so, according to a study conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind Poll. The study, which was released last week, was co-sponsored by the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety.

 http://publicmind.fdu.edu/texting/

And ironically, even though Garden State drivers are acting foolishly by doing more texting, they still believe that New York drivers are worse than them.

According to the study, in prior years the increases in texting in New Jersey could be attributed to drivers under 30, but this isn’t the case anymore.  Although the youngest drivers are more likely to text than any other age group, the increase in texting in this year’s survey was attributed to drivers 30 to 60.

This year 37 percent of drivers 30 to 44 years said they they’ve sent a text while driving, up nine points from last year. And 17 percent of drivers 45 to 60 said they had texted while driving, an increase of 12 percent in 2009.

And for drivers 30 to 60, those who admit to texting while driving has increased dramatically since 2008.

“These figures reflect how much texting has become part of our lives, so much so that we’re even doing it in the driver’s seat,” Dan Cassino, director of experimental research for the PublicMind poll and a Fairleigh Dickinson political science professor, said in a press release. “As more people get used to texting, more are going to do it while driving, so these numbers are probably going to keep going up for some time.”

While texting behind the wheel is on the rise, the use of hand-held phones while driving in the Garden State is on the decline. This year only 12 percent of New Jersey drivers say that they “very often” or “sometimes” talk on a hand-held cell while behind the wheel, down from 18% in 2009, and half of the 26% who admitted to doing so in 2007.

The biggest contributor to this drop was a substantial decline in the use of hand-held phones by young drivers. This year, only 13 percent of drivers under age 30 said that they regularly talked on a hand-held phone while driving, compared to 33 percent last year.

Some of this decline can be attributed to the belief that hands-free devices are safer: 79 percent of New Jersey drivers say that hand-held phones are more dangerous than hands-free devices, up from 67 percent in 2008.

“Most drivers don’t seem to understand that it isn’t holding the phone that’s the problem, but the mental and visual distraction caused by the conversation,” Pam Fischer, director of New Jersey’s highway traffic safety unit, said in a press release. “If we’re replacing hand-held cell phone use with texting, which is more dangerous than driving drunk, we’re certainly not moving in the right direction.”

Six More States Ban Texting While Driving Effective July 1

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Posted on 1st July 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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Today, July 1, bans on texting-while-driving went into effect in six states, adding to the 18 others that already prohibit motorists from using their cellphones to send messages.

http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2010/June10/062810/063010-03.htm

Michigan, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming will start enforcing their new laws today. And a number of other states will have their anti-texting bans go into effect before the year ends, namely Kentucky, Louisiana, Wisconsin and Connecticut.

With so many laws against texting debuting today, the national and local media have done a lot of coverage on the new laws, their penalties and the whole issue of whether such bans really work. Every media outlet from NPR on the radio to Landline, the business magazine for professional truckers, to the Detroit Free Press did pieces on the new anti-texting legislation.  

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128220944

NPR cited statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation that said that in 2008 roughly 6,000 people died in accidents connected to distracted driving, and some 500,000 were hurt. 

The NPR report, interviewing Georgia State Police, focused on the difficultyof enforcing the texting bans. In other words, how do you know that someone is texting?

The texting bans that went into effect today vary from state to state, in terms of who they cover and their penalties.

For example, in Georgia the texting ban applies to all drivers, while in Iowa it also bans drivers under 18 from using a cellphone while beind the wheel. 

The fines for violating the texting bans vary widely, from $30 in Iowa to $200 in the Cornhusker State.

The Detroit Free Press warned drivers in the Motor City that they could be fined $100 initially, then $200, if they are caught texting-while-driving from now on.  

 http://www.freep.com/article/20100701/NEWS05/100701012/1320/Texting-while-driving-could-cost-100-now

Oprah Winfrey Leads Passionate Charge Against Deadly Driver Distractions, Texting And Cellphone Use

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Posted on 3rd May 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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Talk show host and cultural trendsetter Oprah Winfrey is continuing her passionate quest to make texting or using a cellphone while driving considered as dangerous, and heinous, an act as drunken driving.  And who better to get national attention on this life-threatening issue.

Winfrey declared last Friday, April 30, as National No Phone Zone Day. She had done a show on the topic back in January, and has ramped up her efforts to support the cause.

One of the high points of  Friday’s show was when it televised Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm signing that state’s anti-texting bill into law. With a stroke of her pen, Granholm made Michigan the 24th state to ban texting while driving. 

“We’re proud to be the 24th state now to be able to ban texting while driving,” Granholm said. “While talking on the phone is a distraction, clearly, texting while driving on top of that — where you don’t have your eyes on the road or your hands on the wheel or your mind on what you’re doing — it is clearly a danger.”   http://www.freep.com/article/20100501/NEWS06/5010362/Oprah-celebrates-Mich.-texting-ban

Said Oprah, “Michigan just became a safer place because of that new law.”

There was plenty of press coverage  about the signing, which may have been a non-event for newspapers until Oprah got news of the texting-ban front and forward.  

Via satellite, Oprah also went live to anti-texting and anti-cellphone use rallies in Los Angeles, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Boston.

The Detroit coverage, hosted by actress/comedian Ali Wentworth, included not only the bill-signing, but also a clip of  General Motors chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre. He announced that 77,000 of his U.S. employees will sign Oprah’s “No Phone Zone” pledge, which now has more than 200,000 names. http://www.oprah.com/packages/no-phone-zone.html

By pledging, drivers agree to make their car a “No Phone Zone” and refrain from using their phone while driving, eliminating distractions from incoming calls, texts or e-mails. Among those that have signed the pledge are Sandra Bullock, Jeff Bridges, Olympic star Sean White, Jerry Seinfeld, Oscar winners Jeff Bridges and Mo’Nique, Tyler Perry and the cast of the hit TV show “Glee.”

At the rally in Washington Secretary of  Transportation Ray LaHood, who is spearheading a federal ban on texting by truckers behind the wheel, make some remarks.

Correspondent Lisa Ling lead  the Los Angeles rally, interviewing celebrities who have signed Oprah’s petition for anti-texting and cellphone use laws, including Mario Lopez and last year’s “American Idol” winner Kris Allen.    

Oprah, to strike home her message about the danger of distracted driving, also had the victims of motorists who were texting while driving, or using a cellphone, on her show. It was poignant, with parents talking about the deaths of their children, from a 2-year-old hit by a vehicle driven by someone texting to  a beautiful teen-aged girl who crashed and flipped over her truck while texting to a friend. Her mother and father found her body. 

Oprah also have a shout-out to a New York Times reporter, Matt Richtel,  whose series “Driven to Distraction”  just won him a Pulitzer Prize.

 

Texting Driver Crashes Into Tractor Trailer

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Posted on 26th February 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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A Pennsylvania teenager was texting when she hit a tractor trailer on Route 158 in Wilmington Township, according to police.

http://www.sharonherald.com/local/local_story_055225711.html

The woman, 18-yar-old Clarice Edinger, was driving northbound, and while she was texting on her cellphone her car drifted in the southbound lane. She struck a truck, driven by 58-year-old Eugene Bennick of Clymer, N.Y., that was carrying milk.

Bennick couldn’t avoid hitting Edinger’s car. After the collision, the truck went up an embankment and stopped 150 feet from the highway. Edinger was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center for treatment.

New Federal Guidelines Bar Commercial Truck and Bus Drivers From Texting

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Posted on 31st January 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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This week the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a nationwide ban that prohibits commercial truck and bus drivers from texting while they’re on the job behind the wheel.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made the announcement about the ban, which is aimed at preventing accidents caused by distracted truck and bus drivers. The ban took effect immediately.

“We want the drivers of big rigs and buses and those who share the roads with them to be safe,” LaHood said in a press release, http://www.dot.gov/affairs/2010/dot1410.htm. “This is an important safety step, and we will be taking more to eliminate the threat of distracted driving,”

News of the ban was widely reported by the national media, including The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/technology/27distracted.html, and CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/26/trucks.texting.ban/?hpt=T1.

Truckers or bus drivers who violate the new guidelines will be subject to civil or criminal penalties of up to $2,750.

Right now 19 states bar drivers from texting behind the wheel, according to the Ventura, Calif., County Star, http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/jan/28/an-obvious-direction-to-go/?print=1.

Its story points out that a tragic 2008 Metrolink commuter train crash, which killed 25 people and injured 135, was mainly blamed on a train engineer texting just prior to the crash.

That story also cites a July study by the Virgina Tech Transportation Institute, which determined that drivers are six times more likely to get in an accident if they are talking or texting on their cell. That survey also found that truckers using a mobile device are 23 times more likely to have a collision.

DOT this week cited Research by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which found that drivers who send and receive text messages take their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds out of every 6 seconds while texting.
“At 55 miles per hour, this means that the driver is traveling the length of a football field, including the end zones, without looking at the road,” the DOT press release says. “Drivers who text while driving are more than 20 times more likely to get in an accident than non-distracted drivers. Because of the safety risks associated with the use of electronic devices while driving, FMCSA is also working on additional regulatory measures that will be announced in the coming months.”
During the September Distracted Driving Summit, LaHood announced that DOT would pursue regulatory action, as well as rulemakings, to reduce the risks posed by distracted driving.

President Obama also signed an Executive Order directing federal employees not to engage in text messaging while driving government-owned vehicles or with government-owned equipment. Federal employees were required to comply with the ban starting Dec. 30.

The regulatory guidance the DOT texting ban are now in the Federal Register.
DOT also has a Web site, http://distraction.gov, where it warns drivers about the perils of driving while using their cell phones, eating, adjusting their radio or text messaging.