Latest Distracted Driving Headlines
All the headlines from our Distracted Driving Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Advocacy Groups Want Stronger Texting-Driving Ban in Oklahoma
May 24 2016 // Just six months after Oklahoma’s ban on texting and driving went into effect, advocacy groups are calling for even broader measures to curb distracted driving. Oklahoma was among the last states to pass a texting and...
Massachusetts Police Wrote 6,131 Tickets for Texting While Driving in 2015
May 20 2016 // Massachusetts state data show that the number of people getting ticketed by police for texting while driving in Massachusetts has steadily increased since it became illegal six years ago. The state Transportation...
Sixth Sense Lessens Risk of Driving While Absentminded But Not While Texting
May 16 2016 // While much has been made about the dangers of texting and driving, less attention has been focused on the age-old distractions of being absentminded or upset while driving. A team of researchers from the University of...
Delaware Gov. Supports Tougher Penalties for Texting While Driving
May 6 2016 // Delaware Gov. Jack Markell is pledging his support for a bill to toughen penalties for texting or otherwise using a handheld phone while driving. After experiencing a virtual reality demonstration May 3 of the potentially...
Alaska City Approves Ban on Texting While Driving
May 2 2016 // Sitka, Alaska officials have approved an ordinance that prohibits drivers from using their cellphones while driving. The measure approved by the Sitka Assembly last week bans more cellphone uses while driving than state...
Police in Nevada Ticket 75 Distracted Drivers During 3-Week Blitz
Apr 29 2016 // Henderson, Nev., police say officers looking for distracted drivers during a three-week enforcement blitz ticketed 75 motorists for infractions like texting, checking emails, accessing the Internet or talking on...
At Least 36 Killed by Distracted Driving in Arizona Last Year
Apr 22 2016 // State transportation officials say 36 people died and more than 8,000 were involved in accidents as the result of distracted driving last year. April is national Distracted Driving Awareness Month and Arizona Department of...
Maine Police Step Up Distracted Driving Enforcement
Apr 21 2016 // The Augusta, Maine, Police Department says officers in the state’s capital city will be more focused on cracking down on distracted driving from now until September. Sgt. Christian Behr says extra patrols dedicated...
Crashes Increase on Texas Roads; Distracted Driving Part of the Problem
Apr 18 2016 // The number of vehicle crashes in Texas involving injuries and fatalities rose from 139,646 in 2011 to 155,844 in 2014, an increase of 12 percent. That unfortunate trend continued in 2015, the Insurance Council of Texas...
Louisiana Lawmakers Back Motorist Bills: License Plate Scans; Texting; Seatbelts
Apr 15 2016 // Louisiana lawmakers have approved several bills related to driving safety. A proposal filed by Republican Sen. Ronnie Johns to allow law enforcement agencies to automatically scan motorists’ license plates was passed...
New Sheriff in Mississippi County to Crackdown on Texting While Driving
Apr 15 2016 // Tickets for texting while driving may start to rise in Harrison County. Since Troy Peterson became sheriff in January, deputies have written a total of 22 tickets — 13 citations filed in Justice Court and nine...
Massachusetts Police Cracking Down on Distracted Driving
Apr 13 2016 // State and local police across Massachusetts have launched a crackdown on texting behind the wheel and other forms of distracted driving. The effort by the Executive Office of Public Safety Highway Safety Division is...
N.Y. Authorities Wrote 85K Tickets for Texting While Driving in 2015
Apr 11 2016 // The number of drivers issued a ticket for talking on a hand-held cellphone is dropping in New York state — though more people than ever are being caught texting while behind the wheel. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said...
Distracted Driving a Problem as Crashes Increase on Texas Roads
Apr 6 2016 // In 2015, the number of vehicle crashes in Texas involving both injuries and fatalities continued an unfortunate trend of increases over past years, an insurer trade group reported. The Insurance Council of Texas says...
New Jersey Bill Would Make Texting While Walking Illegal
Mar 28 2016 // Jared Schumacher is among the hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans who routinely use electronic devices to text, listen to music or do other tasks as they walk outdoors. But if a “distracted walking” measure...
Distracted Driving Crashes Increase in Wisconsin
Mar 15 2016 // The number of traffic crashes associated with distracted driving is on the rise in Wisconsin, including the number of fatal accidents. More than 24,000 crashes involving a distracted driver occurred in 2015, compared with...
Groups Push for Texting-While-Driving Ban in Missouri
Mar 9 2016 // Law enforcement, health care, insurance and transportation groups are urging Missouri lawmakers to ban texting while driving. A House panel heard testimony on three bills that would make it an infraction for a driver to...
Pennsylvania Police Challenged in Catching Texting Motorists
Feb 4 2016 // Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Assistant District Attorney Heath Long could not prove that a young man was texting when he careened his pickup into another, killing a grandfather and his teenaged granddaughter. “What...
Mass. Senate to Consider Ban on Using Handheld Cellphones While Driving
Jan 21 2016 // Motorists in Massachusetts may soon have to put down their cellphones when they’re on the road. A bill prohibiting the use of hand-held mobile electronic devices while driving would also make it illegal to enter...
Utah’s Texting While Driving Stops Rise Again in 2015
Dec 31 2015 // More people were pulled over for texting, emailing or checking Facebook on their cellphones behind the wheel on Utah’s highways in a six-month snapshot of 2015, marking a second year of growth in stops since the law...
