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Only Fines Will Get Drivers Off the Phone: Experts

Conference tells Transportation Department to get tough

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 5, 2009 8:23 AM CDT
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(Newser) – If the Department of Transportation wants to curb distracted driving, it’ll have to do more than ask nicely, concluded experts at last week’s conference on the issue. Previous efforts to curb drunk driving and promote seat belt safety have proven that drivers don’t respond without the threat of punishment. “There’s no evidence whatever that responsible-driving campaigns work,” the director of MADD told the conference.

That was the only real consensus that emerged from the conference, which produced few concrete proposals, the Washington Post reports. “What works is high-visibility enforcement,” said the chairman of the Governors Highway Safety Association, an ex-state trooper. That’s a big distinction between that and reality: Though 18 states already have laws against driving and phoning, some are so watered down that police rarely bother to enforce them.

Drivers tend to ignore toothless admonitions about safety, like this billboard seen in Indianapolis, Sept. 17, 2009.
Drivers tend to ignore toothless admonitions about safety, like this billboard seen in Indianapolis, Sept. 17, 2009.   (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
A man talks on his cell phone while driving in Los Angeles, Monday June 30, 2008 prior to a hands-free cellphone law that takes effect July 1.
A man talks on his cell phone while driving in Los Angeles, Monday June 30, 2008 prior to a hands-free cellphone law that takes effect July 1.   (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 10 comments
diltsduo
Oct 6, 2009 4:28 AM CDT
wow..that's pretty intense
cornelison
Oct 5, 2009 10:12 AM CDT
I've seen photos of fatal accidents.Some internet readers may be familiar with the Nikki Catsouras accident. The photos are graphic and it could happen to anyone in a car accident.
janbee
Oct 5, 2009 3:38 AM CDT
Will never happen.........half the Staties passing me on Turnpike are texting or on the phone. What is need is safer technology? While we're at it what if you car wouldn't operate unless you're sober.........or fly a jet.

 
driving • Department of Transportation • driver distraction • reckless driving • Ray LaHood • cellphones • public safety

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