“Texting while driving makes you 23 times
more likely to have an accident.”
- one of the facts available at allstate.com

Ah, but it is really an “accident” if you were texting before it happened? Isn’t more like a negative event resulting from doing something foolish?

Anyway, Allstate Insurance has become one more of a large number of companies and organizations to begin campaigning against people sending text messages while driving. As we’ve pointed out before, texting is one of the most distracting things that a driver can do, making them every bit as dangerous on the road as a drunk driver.

At Allstate’s landing page dedicated to distracted driving, you can get important facts, find the applicable laws for your state, and get information about stopping this dangerous practice in your area, your workplace, and your own family.

For years now, Comedy Guys Defensive Driving has been talking about the dangers of driving while distracted, and we welcome a company as well known and respected as Allstate Insurance to the fight.

Michigan is quickly becoming one more state to ban texting while driving. Legislation originally passed by the Michigan Senate was approved by the House also on April 20th, with a vote of 74 to 33.

The ban, which could take effect as soon as July 1, makes texting while driving a primary offense, empowering police officers to pull drivers over for that reason alone.  Offenders could face first-time fines of $100 and subsequent penalties of $200.

The move has so far been applauded by citizens groups and police departments across Michigan.

The dangers of texting and all other forms of distracted driving are a big part of our classes at Comedy Guys Defensive Driving. We are dedicated to making Texas a safer place to drive by making a safer driver out of everyone who takes our class either online or at one of our over 30 class locations.

The US Dept. of Transportation has determined that driving while distracted is such a widespread danger that the problem deserves its own Website.

The US DOT and NHTSA — “National Highway Traffic Safety Administration” for those playing at home — have created www.distraction.gov, a place where drivers can educate themselves about just how dangerous it can be to drive without giving the task the attention it deserves.

The site identifies three types of distracted driving:

• visual, taking your eyes off of the road
• manual, taking your hands off of the wheel
• mental, letting your mind wander

Which of the three is the most prevalent — or the most dangerous — is largely a matter of opinion, but they’re all risky. A moving car with a distracted driver is basically a missile aimed at pretty much anything.

And this line is especially telling: “While all distractions can endanger drivers’ safety, texting is the most alarming because it involves all three types of distraction.”

At ComedyGuys.com Defensive Driving, we take distracted driving very seriously, too. In our training, we see the statistics, and in our classes we hear the horror stories. Whether you take our online driving safety class or take our defensive driving class at one of our more than 30 locations in Texas, we’ll spend time discussing the dangers of driving while distracted and do our best to make safer drivers out of our students.

Insurance.com – which ought to know a little something about risky drivers – recently published a list of which professions make the most dangerous drivers. The report, called The Top 10 Most Dangerous Drivers by Profession, was created by correlating the number of accident claims with the profession of the person making the claim.

But enough about methodology. Let’s see the results…

The #1 spot went to the legal profession. According to the study’s results, 44% of the judges and attorneys seeking an insurance quote reported having had a previous collision. Compare that to the two lowest ranking professions, homemakers at 24% and professional athletes at 17%.

Coming in at #2 were financial professionals.

Insurance.com VP Sam Belden offered an explanation for these results: “Professions that demand multi-tasking – being on the phone, moving fast on a tight schedule – are prone to more distractions and, from there, more accidents.”

Completing the Top 10 list were
3. government workers
4. bartenders/waiters
5. business professionals
6. dog groomers
7. marketing/advertising professionals
8. barbers/stylists
9. coaches
10. nurses

The common factor here seems to be busy people who are likely to be rushed and distracted while they’re behind the wheel.

If you’re part of one of these groups, ComedyGuys.com Defensive Driving can help: our driving safety classes can make you aware of the bad habits that make you a danger to yourself and others. And we can help make you safer even if you’re not on this list: our classes, whether live or online, include strategies for reacting to the foolish things other drivers might do.

It’s all part of our mission to make a safer driver out of everyone who takes our class.

Source: insurance.com

Garland high schools are celebrating the success of “Teens in the Driver’s Seat,” a student-led program to educate students about the dangers of texting and talking on the phone while behind the wheel. 300 Texas schools are participating in the program, and Garland ISD is one of the most active, with programs at all seven high schools.

According to Russell Henk of the Texas Transportation Institute, the program is has three goals: increasing awareness of the risk, changing actual driving behavior, and saving lives.

And “Teens in the Driver’s Seat” has been doing all three in Garland: The number of Garland teenagers involved in crashes has dropped 12% since the program began. Over the same period of time, teenage drivers in nearby Mesquite have seen their crashes reduce by only 2%.

ComedyGuys Defensive Driving applauds these students for making driving safer for themselves and those of us who share the roads with them. Distracted drivers are an increasing hazard on Texas roads, and we make the danger they create a big part of our driving safety classes.

Source: KERA Radio News

You know an issue is gaining traction when the daytime TV queen gets involved.

On the heels of a Virginia Tech study on cell phone use and driving distraction showing that truckers are 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash or close call while texting, Oprah has taken the issue head-on. She committed a full show on January 18 to the issue, comparing texting to driving after four drinks, and declaring the practice “absolutely stupid.”

According to the print arm of Winfrey’s empire, O Magazine, the problem is science, not personality.

In other words, we’re hardwired to focus on single duty at a time. Multitasking is largely a (potentially dangerous) myth.

The result? More and more states (19 so far with total bans) have already been cracking down on distraction and implementing new laws about texting, including legislation in Texas last September. Now, Capitol Hill is joining the campaign.

According to the Washington Post,

On Tuesday, the federal government formally barred truckers and bus drivers from sending text messages while behind the wheel, putting its imprimatur on a prohibition embraced by many large trucking and transportation companies.

“We want the drivers of big rigs and buses and those who share the roads with them to be safe,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “This is an important safety step, and we will be taking more to eliminate the threat of distracted driving.” …

In announcing the ban, LaHood mentioned data compiled last year by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The agency said that texting drivers take their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 out of every six seconds. At 55 mph, he said, that means a texting driver travels the length of a football field, including the end zones, without looking at the road.”

Texting and driving is an oft-discussed issue at Comedy Guys Defensive Driving. We’ll keep you updated on all the latest laws and developments (and, of course, your options concerning defensive driving if you get caught).

Another year, another attempt to make three incongruent (if not volatile) factors — technology, teen drivers and transportation safety — fit happily together.

Here’s a little bit more information about some cell phone-specific changes to Texas law that you should be aware of:

Underage Cell Phoning
No one under the age of 18 can use a wireless communication device while driving, according to House Bill 2730 and House Bill 339.

Texas joins 20 other states in taking this kind of precaution (but not the six states that have banned all ages from using hand-held phones while driving). There are a few caveats — drivers under 18 who got their license before September 1, 2009 are still restricted from using a wireless device for six months — but this law fairly clear. Sorry, teens.

Texting While Driving
Included in the under-18 law, quite obviously, is texting. And e-mailing. And iPhone-ing. And fantasy football trading… You get the picture. No wireless communicating at all. Here’s why:

A Texas Transportation Institute survey revealed that of 10,000 Texas teen drivers, nearly one-third acknowledge texting while driving despite a belief that such a practice is dangerous.

“The autos now are faster and more powerful. You have people driving with their knees while they put on makeup and answer their iPhones,” Rep. Joe Pickett, an El Paso Democrat told the Dallas Morning News. “We create our own problems.”

Still, even this law isn’t without controversy. Some have raised questions about the hypocrisy involved when states — including Texas — send mass texts to drivers (albeit ones warning of potentially dangerous road conditions).

Calling in a School Zone
According to House Bill 55, it’s now illegal to use a hand-held cell phone in an active school zone, unless your car is fully stopped (as in waiting to pick up your kid—we wouldn’t recommend risking whipping out your phone while stopped temporarily in traffic or at a red light) or calling in an emergency.

Communities can only enforce this if the school zone has warning signs in place, but — for the students’ sake and yours — it’s a good idea to get into the habit of hanging up around the kids. Fines can reach $200.

“To put it plainly, distracted driving is a menace to
society,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood
said. “Distracted driving is an epidemic, and it
seems to be getting worse every year.”

That quotation is part of an AP news report about federal investigations into the increased dangers of driving while focusing a significant part of your attention onto something else, something which the Transportation Department reports caused a half million injuries and 6,000 deaths last year alone.

LaHood went on to say that the government would make use of the same strategies that worked in the past with drunk driving and car safety belts: a “combination of strong laws, tough enforcement, and ongoing public education.”

Some members of Congress have already introduced legislation that would cost states 25 percent of their federal highway funding unless they banned emailing or texting while driving.

You can read the entire article by Ken Thomas of the Associated Press here.

CNBC’s Phil LeBeau has also been talking about the dangers of texting while driving, including this article from Car and Driver magazine.

Here he is discussing the Car and Driver study on the Today Show on MSNBC. The evidence is clearly presented and really frightening.

In this still from that Today Show story, you can see four results for the same car driven by the same driver. But look at how the stopping distance is affected by alcohol or distractions like email and texting.

It ought to be common sense: pay attention to the road ahead and the traffic around you.

Anything that distracts you while driving makes you more dangerous.

Millions of people claim that talking on cell phones and especially texting are dangerous things to do while driving.

And millions of other people still talk and text while they’re behind the wheel.

A recent study is on the side of those who claim it’s too dangerous. A study by the Virginia Transportation Tech institute watched a group of drivers for 18 months and found that drivers who were texting were 23 times more likely to be in a crash than when those same drivers weren’t texting. (Original NYT article here.)

As important as those messages may seem, they’re not worth the risk.

Like we tell our students, a big part of driving defensively is making smart decisions. If being safe on the road is more important, send the message later. If the message is more important, pull over to send it.

*may I have your attention, please