The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) keeps tabs on motor vehicle accidents and the personal injury experienced as a result. The federal agency looks into the factors that cause accidents or would increase the risk of injury during a crash.
The NHTSA has focused its attention on the recently growing problem aptly named "distracted driving" after the behaviors that cause a person to divert their attention away from the road. The agency has been behind several successful safety campaigns including their most recent, "Click It or Ticket" which increased the national seatbelt use to a record 85 percent.
"Phone in One Hand, Ticket in the Other," is their newest creation, aimed at mobile phone use behind the wheel, the largest culprit of distracted driving. The new program includes increased police enforcement of recent laws that ban cell phone use or texting while driving. The program also focuses on educating the public on the dangers of distracted driving.
Like any new program, it was tested first. In April of 2010, the program was implemented in two East coast cities. After only one year, 57 percent of residents in the first city put down their phones all together and an astonishing 72 percent stopped texting while behind the wheel.
"These findings show that strong laws, combined with highly visible police enforcement, can significantly reduce dangerous texting and cellphone use behind the wheel," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood after the numbers were released.
Whether or not the program will be implemented nationwide is yet to be seen, but it is clear that distracted driving is a serious problem.
Source: USA Today, "Distracted-driving programs show success," Larry Copeland, 11 July 2011
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