Across America, awareness of distracted driving is growing. As friends and neighbors are injured or killed in car accidents caused by distracted drivers, and as Oprah urges us to make our vehicles "No Phone Zones," momentum is gaining to end this danger.
What is the current state of distracted driver legislation? As MSNBC points out, state laws are far from uniform. While 30 states now have legislation addressing cell phone use or texting while driving, one state may ban all types of handheld-phone use in vehicles while another only bans texting. Depending on the state, fines range from $20 to $150 for the first offense.
On the national level, President Obama issued an executive order prohibiting texting while driving for all federal employees, and the Department of Transportation (DOT) also has banned texting while driving for interstate truck drivers, and commercial bus or van drivers who carry more than eight passengers.
Federal Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood leads the DOT's campaign to end distracted driving. He has repeatedly emphasized the dangers of texting while driving in press conferences and through various social media channels, such as Twitter, Facebook and the official blog of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation: FastLane.
Some electronics-, insurance- and automobile-industry trade groups have tried to reframe the issue as a broad driver distraction problem rather than focus narrowly on the role of electronic devices like cell phones. These groups claim that the automobile and technology industries have become collateral damage in the debate and say that attending to children or fiddling with the radio in the car is just as distracting as using a cell phone. The reframing of the debate has challenged restrictions that would help save lives.
This move alarmed Secretary LaHood, who said he was stunned that anyone would organize an effort to undercut road safety. According to the DOT, there are three forms of distracted driving:
- It is visual, taking your eyes off the road
- It is manual, taking your hands of the wheel
- It is cognitive, taking your mind off driving
Therefore, texting is the most distressing because it involves all three types of distraction.
The movement to stop cell phone use while driving is gaining momentum across the nation, but Florida has yet to enact any distracted driving legislation. While there may be many other distractions for drivers on Tampa Bay-area roads, it is especially important to address the distraction that lies in our own hands.
