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Texting while driving posts

Wales produces exceptionally graphic, educational film about the dangers of texting while driving

by Laura June posted Aug 16th 2009 @ 7:59PM

Alright, texting while driving? Obviously stupid -- but that doesn't stop tons and tons of people from doing it. The Gwent Police department in Wales hopes that its newest PSA film will help deter this bad behavior. In much the same spirit as the drunk driving on prom night films we ourselves had to sit thorough in high school, this film is pretty graphic. Okay, it's actually shockingly graphic -- but we're pretty sure that's the idea. Video is after the break.

[Via Gizmodo]

Continue reading Wales produces exceptionally graphic, educational film about the dangers of texting while driving

Senators to introduce legislation banning texting while driving

by Donald Melanson posted Jul 29th 2009 @ 11:51AM

It's already been banned by a number of states and the District of Columbia, but a group of Democratic senators led by New York's Charles Schumer are now set to introduce legislation that would ban texting while driving throughout the United States. That, as you may be aware if you've been watching the news this past week, follows a study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, which found that truck drivers that texted while driving were 23 times more likely to get into an accident than non-texters -- to say nothing of several calls for a ban from major safety groups over the years. While complete details on the proposed bill are still a bit light, it would apparently withhold 25% of the annual federal highway funding from states that did not comply with the ban, and would reportedly be modeled on the way the national drunken driving ban was introduced.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Aegis Mobility's DriveAssist cripples your phone when you drive

by Tim Stevens posted Oct 14th 2008 @ 9:50AM

Headset or no, talking on the phone while driving can be dangerous -- either to you or to your license. Various states have various bits of legislation indicating what is and is not allowed while in motion, but what if you want to have somewhat more specific controls over your kids or workers? That's the idea behind Aegis Mobility's DriveAssist (not to be confused with BMW's Drive Assist), described as a sort of nannified assistant for people on the go. Using GPS it determines the user's "driving context," disabling incoming and outgoing calls and texts and holding messages to deliver later. It's an interesting idea, and given the risks of texting while driving in particular it's a good one, but we wonder what happens if you're on a bus or sitting in the passenger seat.

[Via textually.org]

Survey finds 37% of Gen Y-ers text while driving

by Darren Murph posted May 2nd 2008 @ 3:26PM

Oh sure, Americans are adamantly against texting while driving (in theory), but that's not stopping those mischievous Gen Y-ers from getting their SMS on while behind the wheel. According to a new survey of 1,200 people conducted by Nationwide Mutual Insurance (we know, we know), a third of the Gen Y-ers admitted to "always multitasking while driving," and while the "always" bit does indeed frighten us a tad, the real juice was in the next statistic: 37-percent said they sent text messages while driving. Before you start belaboring the imprudent youth, think long and hard about your own in-car cellphone usage -- remember that time you just had to reply "y w pep plz" in order to salvage your friend's pizza order? Tsk tsk.

[Via About]

Poll: Americans overwhelmingly against texting while driving, in theory

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 13th 2007 @ 10:48AM

Be honest, when's the last time you responded to a text message from behind the wheel? If you're in with the majority of cellphone-toting Americans, you've done it -- though you probably also think it should be outlawed. A recent poll of about 2,000 US adults found that some 57 percent had participated in a little SMS action while driving at some point in their lives, but they were at least cognizant of its danger, with 91 percent guessing it was as dangerous as driving on a couple drinks. We'd guess as much, too -- if not more so, considering that texting takes brain function and your eyes away from the road. 89 percent of the polled folks want the practice outlawed, which really makes us wonder about those two percent that know it's dangerous and want to keep on doing it. Let us know to stay away with a bumper sticker on your jalopy, k?

Texting while driving irks NY senator

by Brian White posted Jul 19th 2007 @ 5:32PM

First came a ban in New York against cellphone handset use while driving, but now texting behind the wheel may face the same fate. Yeah, we agree on this one -- after all, texting takes your eyes of the road unless you have some speech-to-text thing going on in that handset. Anyhoo, New York senator Carl Marcellino wants SMSing while driving banned due to the recent deaths of five young girls in auto accidents attributed to texting while driving. Washington state already has banned SMS use while driving, and with a recent Zogby Poll concluding that one-third of all people between 18 and 24 years old have sent texts while driving, we'll most likely see this kind of ban coming to more states.

States mulling bans on driving while texting

by Brian White posted Mar 16th 2007 @ 5:41PM

We kind of get a kick out of possible laws that have to spell out common sense to people lacking it, so we chuckled a bit when we saw that legislators in Oregon and Washington want to pass laws against DWT, or "Driving While Texting." To those that just can't enjoy the peaceful gridlock of that daily commute, better not whip out that handset or even the beloved BlackBerry and start sending SMSs, emails, or whatever your own text-based poison may be. Considering how many distractions already plague drivers in modern vehicles, we suggest just a fave DAP with a preset playlist and leave it at that, eh?