Distracted Driving Gets Attention This Week

Distracted driving has become a real concern in recent years with the proliferation of mobile devices taking drivers’ attention from the road.

While 15 municipalities have already passed their own texting bans, three bills saw action in the General Assembly this week to implement a statewide ban. The Senate Judiciary committee voted out S416 and S459, and both bills now move to the full Senate. The House Education and Public Works Transportation subcommittee approved H4386. Next, this bill will be on the full House Education and Public Works committee agenda. Read Friday's From the Dome to Your Home for details.

The City of Greenville, the first city to pass a hands-free distracted driving ordinance, is partnering a Michelin North America, Inc. and SIMON Property Group to bring the national "Save A Life Tour" to a local mall this week-end. The tour features a distracted driving program and includes a state-of-the-art distracted driving simulator. The tour also serves as a reminder to Greenville residents about the April 1 effective date of the distracted driving ordinance.

The Municipal Association’s self-insured workers’ compensation and property and liability insurance pools recently offered members a 4-hour defensive driving training that focused in large part on how cell phone use contributes to distracted and impaired driving.

Participants learned that while many activities cause one or two types of distraction, cell phone use causes all three. The three types of distractions are manual distractions, which take drivers’ hands off the wheel; visual distractions, which take their eyes off the road; and cognitive distractions, which take their minds off the road. 

In this video, David Teater of the National Safety Council explains the research on cognitive distraction.

Also, two studies concluded that cell phone users are four times more likely to be involved in a crash. Incredibly, cell phone users reacted slower to a vehicle braking in front of them than someone with a blood alcohol content of .08.