Latest Distracted Driving Headlines
All the headlines from our Distracted Driving Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Minnesota Safety Officials Building Awareness of New Hands-Free Cellphone Law
Jul 2 2019 // Minnesota safety officials are redoubling their efforts to make drivers aware of a state law that takes effect Aug 1 requiring that motorists use hands-free devices while phoning on the road. Department of Public Safety...
Tennessee Hand-Held Phone Driving Ban Becomes Law
Jul 2 2019 // Drivers in Tennessee could face fines if they’re caught using hand-held cellphones behind the wheel as the new law took effect Monday. The new distracted driving law makes it illegal to drive while holding or...
North Carolina Lawmakers Disagree Over Watered Down Hands Free Bill
Jun 13 2019 // Weeks after North Carolina House members watered down a distracted driving bill, state senators want to restore robust language that would prohibit drivers from holding their cellphones. Republican lawmakers and parents of...
Texas Transportation Agency: Distracted Driving Still a Problem
Jun 6 2019 // Approximately 1 in 5 crashes in Texas involves distracted driving, which continues to be a problem in the state even after a state law banned texting and driving in 2017, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)...
Florida Gov Signs Bill Making Texting While Driving Primary Offense
May 20 2019 // Florida will become one of the last states to make texting while driving a primary traffic offense under a bill signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday. The new law will also ban the use of any handheld wireless...
North Carolina Industry-Backed Cellphone Ban Bill Moves Forward
May 6 2019 // Legislation originally designed to prohibit hand-held cellphones while driving in North Carolina nearly stalled Friday after a rewrite because lawmakers worried it would punish people who eat or put on makeup behind the...
Phone Addicts
May 6 2019 // Last year, more than 6,000 pedestrians lost their lives in accidents caused by distracted drivers. And the problem is getting worse by the day thanks to cell phone addicts. According to the third annual Distracted Driving...
Tennessee Approves Ban on Handheld Phones While Driving
May 3 2019 // Gov. Bill Lee will decide whether Tennessee will ban the use of handheld electronic devices, including cellphones, while driving. The Senate voted 23-7 on Tuesday to send Lee the bill. The House previously cleared it in a...
Florida Lawmakers Pass Text While Driving Ban, Hands-Free Requirement
May 1 2019 // The Florida House on Monday passed a compromise bill that would make texting while driving a primary offense, as well as create a hands-free area within school zones and construction zones where workers are present. The...
Council Formed with Goal of Changing Ohio’s Distracted Driving Culture
Apr 29 2019 // Gov. Mike DeWine says a newly formed council will develop a plan to change the distracted driving culture in Ohio. The Republican governor this week announced creation of the Distracted Driving Advisory Council. The...
Texas Tops the Nation in Traffic Deaths; Filed Bills Aim to Stem the Tide
Apr 29 2019 // At least one person has died on Texas roads every day since Nov. 7, 2000. Despite efforts to End the Streak, as the Texas Department of Transportation puts it, the state still leads the nation in traffic deaths. Fatalities...
Getting Americans to Stop Using Phones While Driving
Apr 29 2019 // The distracted driving report by Zendrive, a traffic-data startup, makes it clearer and clearer each year that millions of Americans can’t stop themselves from talking, texting and livestreaming—yes, even using...
Florida Senate Passes Texting While Driving Ban
Apr 29 2019 // Texting while driving would become a primary traffic offense along with talking on a handheld cellphone in school and construction zones under a bill passed by the Florida Senate. The Senate’s 33-5 vote on Thursday...
Arizona Becomes 48th State with Cellphone-Driving Law
Apr 25 2019 // Arizona ended a decade of resistance to restrictions on using a cellphone while driving when Gov. Doug Ducey signed a law this week outlawing holding a phone behind the wheel. It is now the 48th state to ban texting and...
Distracted Driving Habit Is Proving Tough for Americans to Break
Mar 28 2019 // Nearly eight in 10 consumers talk on the phone while driving and more than 30 percent admit to having been in a near-miss crash because they were distracted. Also, although distracted driving poses potential liability...
Hands-Free Phone Use While Driving Bill Passes Minnesota House
Mar 21 2019 // Minnesota motorists would be required to use hands-free devices when talking on the phone while driving under a bill that passed the state House on Monday night, after sponsors said the measure will cut down on distracted...
Nevada Mulling ‘Textalyzer’ Tech That Scans Cellphones After Crashes
Mar 18 2019 // Most states ban texting behind the wheel, but a legislative proposal could make Nevada one of the first states to allow police to use a contentious technology to find out if a person was using a cellphone during a car...
Travelers: Over 70% of Minneapolis-Area Drivers Surveyed Use Phones While Driving
Feb 27 2019 // A recently commissioned survey of 503 Minneapolis-area drivers by The Travelers Companies Inc. found that 71 percent of respondents use a mobile device while driving, with 84 percent of millennials, 72 percent of Gen Xers...
Texas Saw Fewer Traffic Fatalities 2018
Feb 18 2019 // After seven straight years of increases, the number of traffic fatalities in Texas fell in 2018, the Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) reported. Traffic fatalities in the state dropped 4 percent from 3,720 in 2017 to 3,567...
Really? Using Hands-Free Devices While Driving Not So Risky?
Feb 18 2019 // New research suggests that drivers who use hands-free electronic devices, as opposed to handheld ones, are not increasing their risk of getting into a crash. According to the research from Virginia Tech Transportation...
