Latest Distracted Driving Headlines
All the headlines from our Distracted Driving Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Ohio County Bans Texting While Driving
Oct 21 2009 // The county that includes Akron has become the latest area in Ohio to ban text messaging while driving. The measure approved by the Summit County Council carries $150 fines for violators caught reading or sending text...
Pressure Builds for More States to Ban Cell Phone Use While Driving
Oct 19 2009 // Opening a Sept. 30 government meeting on auto safety, the Obama administration reported that nearly 6,000 people were killed and a half-million injured last year in vehicle crashes connected to driver distraction, a...
Pressure Builds for More States to Ban Cell Phone Use While Driving
Oct 19 2009 // The Obama administration reported that nearly 6,000 people were killed and a half-million injured last year in vehicle crashes connected to driver distraction, a striking indication of the dangers of using mobile devices...
Do Cell Phone Bans Change Driver Behavior?
Oct 14 2009 // Phoning while driving and texting behind the wheel are in the news. This is the highway safety issue of the moment, the subject of cartoons and, on a more serious side, the focus of legislation. A key question is whether...
Oklahoma Panel to Study Texting And Driving Rules
Oct 9 2009 // A legislative panel in Oklahoma plans to investigate the potentially dangerous practice of texting while driving. Oklahoma currently has no state law against the use of cell phones while driving, according to the Insurance...
Texas Woman Sentenced in Distracted Driving Case
Oct 7 2009 // A state district judge in Texas has sentenced a woman to 30 days in jail, 10 years probation and ordered her to pay a $10,000 fine for criminally negligent homicide in connection with a case of “distracted...
Maine Woman Cited under New Distracted Driver Law
Oct 6 2009 // A West Bath, Maine woman who crashed her vehicle into a telephone pole has been cited under the state’s new distracted driver law. The Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Department says Kandi Frame was talking on a...
Survey: 1 Out of 5 Drivers Admits to Texting While Behind the Wheel
Oct 5 2009 // Nearly one out of five U.S. drivers surveyed has read or sent a text message while behind the wheel, even though nearly all of the respondents in an AAA survey released Sept. 25 considered such action...
Driver Distraction Costs 6,000 Lives a Year; Many Teens
Oct 1 2009 // Opening a government meeting on auto safety, the Obama administration reported Wednesday that nearly 6,000 people were killed and a half-million injured last year in vehicle crashes connected to driver distraction, a...
Ban on Texting While Driving in Arkansas Starts Oct. 1
Sep 29 2009 // A law that goes into effect Oct. 1 will prohibit Arkansas drivers from texting or sending e-mail from their handheld devices while driving. The Legislature passed the ban during the last session, calling it...
AAA Survey: 1 Out of 5 Drivers Admits to Texting While Behind the Wheel
Sep 28 2009 // Nearly one out of five U.S. drivers surveyed has read or sent a text message while behind the wheel, even though nearly all of the respondents in an AAA survey released on Friday considered such action...
U.S. Safety Agency Eyes Cell Phone Use Ban for Bus, Truck Drivers
Sep 25 2009 // Safety investigators told federal regulators three years ago that it was dangerous for bus drivers to talk on cell phones while driving and recommended a ban. The National Transportation Safety Board put that...
Kentucky Among States Considering Ban on Texting While Driving
Sep 15 2009 // Motorists would be forbidden to send text messages while behind the wheel under proposals awaiting legislative action in Kentucky early next year. Two lawmakers have filed bills that would add Kentucky to a growing list of...
U.S. Transportation Agency to Hold Distracted Driving Summit
Aug 4 2009 // U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced a September summit to address the dangers of text-messaging and other distractions behind the wheel. In late September, senior transportation officials, elected...
Lawmakers to Propose Ban on Texting while Driving
Jul 30 2009 // States would be required to ban driving while texting or face the loss of highway funds under legislation being pushed by a group of Democratic senators. Aimed at reducing driver distraction and highway deaths and...
Study: Texting while Driving More Dangerous than Previously Thought
Jul 29 2009 // Texting while driving increases the risk of a crash much more than previous studies have concluded with motorists taking their eyes off the road longer than they do when talking or listening on their cell phones, a safety...
Report: Federal Safety Agency Withheld Data on Dangers of Distracted Driving
Jul 22 2009 // The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gathered hundreds of pages of research and warnings about the hazards of drivers using cell phones, but withheld the information from the public in 2003 in part out of...
New York’s Dutchess County Bans Texting while Driving
Jul 14 2009 // New York’s Dutchess County is sending drivers a message: No more text messaging behind the wheel. County Executive William Steinhaus said Friday he wouldn’t veto a law against sending text messages while...
New Indiana Laws Include Teen Driver Cell Phone Ban
Jun 29 2009 // Indiana drivers under age 18 will soon be breaking the law if they use a cell phone while driving, as will school bus drivers who fail to make sure all students are off the bus at the end of their routes. The new laws,...
North Carolina Bans Texting While Driving
Jun 23 2009 // North Carolina has become the seventh state to pass a ban this year on texting while driving. So how did Gov. Beverly Perdue get the word out? She had an aide send a text message announcing the governor has signed the ban...
