Don't Text While You Drive – Enough is Enough, Says NTSB

12/15/11

According to the December 13th washingtonpost.com article, “NTSB seeks nationwide ban on driver use of personal electronic devices”, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman spoke about its recommendations to ban, nationwide, the use of personal electronic devices while driving during a press conference.


The press conference and the administration's recommendations follow its investigation into last year's deadly crash in Gray Summit, Missouri. The accident involved a 19-year-old pickup driver, who'd sent or received 11 texts in the 11 minutes immediately before the accident. That included one that was sent immediately before the impact of the crash. The driver of the pickup, along with a fifteen year old student on a school bus, was killed and another 38 were injured.

Hersman was quoted as saying: “According to [the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration], more than 3,000 people lost their lives last year in distraction-related accidents. It is time for all of us to stand up for safety by turning off electronic devices when driving.” However, per the article, although the NTSB investigates transportation and pipeline accidents and then makes recommendations on safety rules and regulations, it has no power to implement them – but its findings are very important to federal regulators, as well as congressional and state lawmakers.

Specifically, the NTSB urgently recommends banning “the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed to support the driving task)” in all fifty states and the District. Per the Governors Highway Safety Association, 35 states currently ban texting during driving.

In reference to the Missouri accident, Hersman was quoted as saying during the press conference: “We will never know whether the driver was typing, reaching for the phone, or reading a text when his pickup ran into the truck in front of him without warning. But, we do know he had been distracted — cognitively, manually, and visually — while driving. Driving was not his only priority.”

The NTSB is not alone. Other government officials and groups have rallied around the cause over a period of years. Ray LaHood, U.S. Transportation Secretary urges, per the article, drivers to place their cell phones in the glove compartment before embarking on a trip. Additionally, he has gone so far as to propose warning labels explaining the dangers of use while driving should be affixed to cell phones.

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.

According to the December 13th google.com article, “NTSB recommends ban on driver cell phone use”, a survey conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, that used a population of 6,000 drivers, revealed that about 2 of 10 drivers text and/or email while driving. The survey also revealed that fifty percent of drivers aged between 21 and 24 also text and/or email while driving. Incredibly, the survey also revealed that many drivers only find fault with other people texting while driving, but don't think their own behavior is dangerous!

Get a grip – on the wheel, that is.

Hersman summed it up best: “No call, no text, no update is worth a human life.”

A round of applause, please.

Per information at the board's website, The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent federal agency responsible for “determining the probable cause of transportation accidents, promoting transportation safety, and assisting victims of transportation accidents and their families.”