Monday, October 5, 2009

Curbing Distracted Driving

There were two immediate results from the Distracted Driving Summit last week. President Obama's Executive Order bans nearly 3 million government employees from Texting & Driving.

The other immediate impact was massive media coverage building up to the Summit, during the Summit and after the Summit. Ray LaHood's goal is to have everyone understand how dangerous distracted driving is by this time next year, but thanks to the media a large percentage of Americans have already heard the message.

As Ray LaHood mentions in a follow-up article Curbing Distracted Driving "We won't fix this problem overnight, but we are going to raise awareness and sharpen the consequences." He also states we can't merely legislate our way out of this problem. It is going to be a multi-tiered approach including legislation, working with advocate & industry groups to help change the culture, as well as high-visibility enforcement (similar to drunk driving enforcement). Again and again he calls on all Americans to be responsible and use "common sense and show some consideration for other drivers and their passengers, for pedestrians, and for bicyclists." (Thanks to @MurrayComm for the link to Curbing Distracted Driving.)

Remember Distracted Driving causes 6,000 deaths and 500,000 injuries. Be alert when on the roads - there is still a large number of distracted drivers on the road. Being alert can avoid a crash and save your life. Hands on the wheel, Eyes on the road.

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