distracted driving

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Toronto Mayor Caught Reading While Driving

Cops to Rob Ford: Please get a driver

(Newser) - Next time you're driving in Toronto, beware of a hazard on the road: the mayor. Rob Ford was photographed reading a stack of papers while driving on the city's busy Gardiner Expressway yesterday, in a shot snapped by a Twitter user who says traffic was moving at around...

Half of Teen Drivers Text Behind Wheel

 Half of Teen 
 Drivers Text 
 Behind Wheel 
CDC survey
Jun 8, 2012 5:35 PM CDT

Half of Teen Drivers Text Behind Wheel

Feds are renewing crackdown on distracted driving

(Newser) - More than half of high school seniors have texted while driving, according to a federal survey that collected the data for the first time ever. In the survey, 58% of 12th-graders admitted to texting or emailing while behind the wheel, while 43% of 11th-graders said they did also, reports AP...

Next Target of Distracted Driving: Lapdogs

Rhode Island legislator cracks down on distracted driving

(Newser) - There's a new target in the war on distracted driving: lapdogs. A Rhode Island legislator is sponsoring a bill that would ban drivers from letting their canine companions perch on their laps, reports the Wall Street Journal . The bill, which could saddle violators with a $125 fine, would make...

DOT Rules Would Limit Car Gadget Use

Agency pushes voice-command systems over 'visual-manual' ones

(Newser) - The Department of Transportation has issued its first draft guidelines to deal with distracted driving, and they ban a lot more than just sending text messages. The guidelines recommend that automakers limit cars' "infotainment" systems so that while a car is in motion, all tasks can be performed with...

Texting While Driving Surges
 Texting While Driving Surges 
survey says
Dec 8, 2011 10:48 AM CST

Texting While Driving Surges

Up 50% last year: survey

(Newser) - Despite 35 states now banning it, the practice of texting while driving continues to increase, according to new research. An observational study conducted at selected stoplights and intersections last year found that at any given moment, 0.9% of drivers were using a hand-held device; that's up from 0....

Maureen Dowd: Ford's Now Building Smartphones on Wheels
 Ford's Now Building 
 Smartphones on Wheels 
MAUREEN DOWD
Feb 27, 2011 1:45 PM CST

Ford's Now Building Smartphones on Wheels

'In-car connectivity' is a plethora of distractions

(Newser) - Ford's got a slick new whiz-bang simulator, and Maureen Dowd kicked the tires—and almost ran smack "into a huge green truck," she writes for the New York Times. The problem is Ford's new "in-car connectivity"—a "cornucopia of diversions on your dashboard," Dowd...

Let's Do Away With Drunk-Driving Laws
 Let's Do Away With 
 Drunk-Driving Laws 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Oct 16, 2010 7:00 PM CDT

Let's Do Away With Drunk-Driving Laws

Essay: They actually make roads more dangerous

(Newser) - Laws against drunken driving are admirable in intent, but a case can be made (with stats to back it up) that they actually make our roads less safe, argues Radley Balko in Reason . Measuring blood-alcohol levels is misguided given the vast differences in how individuals handle their booze. Police, meanwhile,...

Google Tests Self-Driving Cars
 Google Tests Self-Driving Cars 
Oct 10, 2010 1:05 PM CDT

Google Tests Self-Driving Cars

But mass production is at least 8 years out

(Newser) - Google, you can drive my car: In its continued quest for world domination, the search engine behemoth is now dabbling in a little thing it likes to call self-driving cars, reports the New York Times. The fleet of seven has safely logged some 140,000 miles—albeit with "drivers"...

Texting, Driving Has Killed 16K in US

And it's spiked since 2005

(Newser) - Sure, you know that distracted driving causes fender-benders, but what about 16,000 deaths? That's how many Americans died because of texting while driving from 2001 to 2007, reports Aol News, with a new study citing a significant spike in the years since 2005. "Distracted driving has reached epidemic...

Woman Busted for Driving With Sex Toy in Her Lap

Colondra Hamilton of Ohio was watching a sex video behind the wheel

(Newser) - An Ohio woman faces a charge of "driving with inappropriate alertness" after she was pulled over for having illegal tinted windows and police discovered her with a sex toy in her lap. Colondra Hamilton, 36, was wearing unzipped pants and watching a sex video on a computer her passenger...

1 in 7 Get Frisky Behind the Wheel
 1 in 7 Get Frisky 
 Behind the Wheel 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jun 5, 2010 6:44 AM CDT

1 in 7 Get Frisky Behind the Wheel

Survey finds new meaning for 'distracted driving'

(Newser) - When most people think of "distracted driving" they think of texting, talking, or eating food. But a survey on distracted driving has found that sex accounts for a good bit of it, too: About 1 in 7 admitted to having had sex or performing a sexual act while driving,...

Grisly Don't-Text-and-Drive Ad Comes to US

UK mini-movie to be edited to 30 seconds

(Newser) - A blood-soaked UK ad warning of the consequences of driving while texting has made its way stateside, albeit in a highly edited form. The original ad clocks in at four minutes, showing in slow, excruciating detail the results of a fictionalized three-car crash. There's a lot of blood, dead teenagers,...

Apps Prevent Your Kid From Doing This

Program locks up phones when they're in motion

(Newser) - If you're desperate to stop your teenager from becoming the latest moron to crash their car while texting someone, rest easy; technology is here to help. A wave of clever new apps make it physically impossible to use your phone while driving, reports David Pogue of the New York Times...

Oprah Winfrey: Text, Drive, Kill Somebody

Queen of talk warns of dangers behind the wheel

(Newser) - She's made her living as the queen of talk, but Oprah Winfrey wants you zip it behind the wheel. Winfrey takes to the op-ed pages of the New York Times today to warn of the dangers of distracted driving, citing a 9-year-old girl killed "just 15 pedals from her...

Dead Teens' Final Texts Star in New Ad Campaign
Dead Teens' Final Texts Star in New Ad Campaign
don't text and drive
Mar 8, 2010 8:13 AM CST

Dead Teens' Final Texts Star in New Ad Campaign

Campaign pushes to stop texting while behind the wheel

(Newser) - "No text is worth dying over" is the message of a new campaign to stop young drivers from texting behind the wheel. The campaign, being launched today by AT&T, features parents of teenagers who died texting, like 18-year-old Mariah West, who flipped her car into oncoming traffic while...

Digital Billboards 'Weapons of Mass Distraction': Foes

Industry says they're not 'TV on a stick' but a simple 'slide show'

(Newser) - Digital highway billboards can change their display every few seconds, serving multiple advertisers and even aiding law enforcement in finding fugitives and missing children—which is terribly unsafe, critics argue. The “television on a stick” is dangerously distracting to drivers, they say. “The billboard gets your attention whether...

Study: Driving's Really Bad for Your Conversation Skills
Study: Driving's Really Bad for Your Conversation Skills
NO KIDDING DEPT.
Feb 16, 2010 9:30 PM CST

Study: Driving's Really Bad for Your Conversation Skills

It's harder to remember details when you're occupied

(Newser) - Verifying that what most think is obvious is indeed true, scientists say driving really kills your conversation and memory skills. A study found that those talking and driving were much worse at relaying details of the conversation, and at remembering details later. No harder than walking and chewing gum? Ha!...

Feds Ban Texting by Truck, Bus Drivers

Under rules, effective immediately, fines run as high as $2,750

(Newser) - Drivers of trucks and buses who text behind the wheel will be subject to thousands of dollars in fines, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced today. The federal prohibition, which takes effect immediately, applies only to commercial vehicles. But distracted driving is one of LaHood's top issues, CNN reports. "This...

States Roll Out Bans on Texting While Driving

23 states mull laws against practice already banned in 19

(Newser) - Alarmed by the dangers of driving while text messaging, legislatures in 23 states are considering outlawing the practice, which 19 states already ban. Lawmakers “often get involved because there's a high-profile accident that had to do with texting,” an expert tells USA Today . “Also, because everybody has...

Web-Worthy Computers Coming to Your Dashboard
 Web-Worthy Computers 
 Coming to Your Dashboard  
DISTRACTED DRIVING dept.
Jan 7, 2010 10:51 AM CST

Web-Worthy Computers Coming to Your Dashboard

Some block web surfing in motion, but some don't

(Newser) - Advances in computer chip technology have finally made web-connected dashboard computers possible in cars, to the delight of automakers and the horror of safety advocates. Chips used to draw too much power to make state-of-the-art car setups viable, but that’s changed, and this year’s CES has seen a...

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