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DISTRACTED DRIVING * WORLDWIDE
* USA - Warning labels on cellphones proposed
Washington,DC,USA -The Washington Post, by Ashley Halsey III -September 22, 2010: -- Cigarette packages and alcoholic beverages carry labels warning that they may be hazardous to your health. Should cellphones come with them, too? . Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, proposed the idea... The labels would warn that using a cellphone while driving is dangerous... LaHood announced last week that research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that distracted driving led to 5,474 highway deaths and 448,000 accidents last year, which was 16 percent of the national total... Asked whether such warning labels should be required in all new cars, LaHood said, "I want to work with the car industry on a few other things before I get to that"... In his opening remarks, LaHood scolded the auto industry for turning cars into entertainment centers... He said automakers have supported bans on text messaging and handheld cellphone use while driving, but have introduced other distractions... (Photo by Mark Wilson - Police Officer J.D. Hansohn flags down a driver who was talking on his cellphone)* USA - Study: Talking to death: texts, phones kill 16,000: study
Washington,DC,USA -Reuters (CAN), by Maggie Fox -Sep 23, 2010: -- Drivers distracted by talking or texting on cell phones killed an estimated 16,000 people from 2001 to 2007, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday... The estimate, one of the first scientific attempts to quantify how many people have died in accidents caused specifically by mobile telephone distractions, also suggests a growing number of these drivers are under 30... Fernando Wilson and Jim Stimpson of the University of North Texas Health Science Center wrote in the American Journal of Public Health, and used details on road deaths from each state, on cell phone ownership and data on text message volume from the Federal Communications Commission... They got reports from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on deaths attributable to distracted driving... Just talking on a cell phone can distract a driver, and several studies have demonstrated that, even with a hands-free device. But Wilson said texting and using so-called smart phones that provide e-mail access and other distracting applications take the problem to a new level... (Photo from REUTERS/by Mike Blake - A driver uses his smart phone while in traffic in Encinitas, California December 10, 2009)* Australia - Keep IAP separate from speed and fatigue
Sydney,NSW,Australia -ATN by Brad Gardner -October 1, 2010: -- Electronic work diaries should be mandatory but governments must not link them to the Intelligent Access Program (IAP), according to a telematics and software provider... Road Tech General Manager, Jaime Baldwin, says electronic reporting should be legally required for fatigue and speed compliance to boost safety... In his response, Baldwin highlights potential problems governments will face in imposing electronic work diaries... He says electronic monitoring could lead to “lazy enforcement” by regulators, penalties for minor infringements and “alienation of the drivers who will justifiably feel that they are being ‘spied on"... According to Baldwin, trucking companies should have access to digital data so they can monitor their drivers and take disciplinary action to ensure they comply with regulations... The National Transport Commission proposes a voluntary scheme to encourage companies to use telematics to improve compliance and efficiency... It wants 90 percent of the industry using the technology by 2030... * UK - Police and VOSA increase tacho checks in North West
Chester,Chesire,UK -Road Transport, by George Barrow -30 September 2010: -- Vehicle compliance enforcement in the North West has received a boost after the Highways Agency and Cheshire Police opened a new vehicle checking facility near Sandbach services on the M6... Mobile tachograph disc scanners together with laptop computers and handheld tacho card readers will now be used to filter out drivers exceeding their daily or weekly hours... The Commercial Vehicles Unit (CVU) will also be used for round-the-clock checks on documents, vehicle roadworthiness and overloading. The depot, which is now being used as a model for further sites across the country, has also been equipped with payment facilities for penalty notices... (Photo from roadtransport/big-lorry-blog)
* UK - Police stop HGV driver with laptop on dashboard in Scotland
Stirling,Scotland,UK -The Lorry Crime Blog, by Joanna Bourke -September 30, 2010: -- A Hungarian lorry driver was ordered off the road after Central Scotland Police officers discovered a table, laptop and DVD player mounted to his dashboard. A "seriously underinflated tyre" was also detected by VOSA at the Craigforth weighbridge in Stirling... Chief inspector Donald McMillan, head of the road policing unit, comments: "It is incredible to think that any professional driver would put things in place which would obscure his vision" ... He was told he could not continue his journey until the faults were rectified... In the past, truckers have also been pulled over for offences such as watching DVDs while driving, and one was holding a mobile phone in each hand while texting... (Photograph by Blake-Ezra Cole/SWNS: Trucker caught reading on move)Labels: driver distraction
posted by Unknown @ 8:33 PM
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