driving while texting

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App Lets You Judge Teen Driving

But critics say it encourages texting behind the wheel

(Newser) - Ever sit up wondering about your teenage kid's driving? A Florida dad has designed an app that may allay your fears, the Sun-Sentinel reports. Called howismykiddriving.co , its $15 membership ($10 after the first year) comes with a bumper sticker to put on your teen's car: "How...

Half of Teen Drivers Text Behind Wheel

 Half of Teen 
 Drivers Text 
 Behind Wheel 
CDC survey
Jun 8, 2012 5:35 PM CDT

Half of Teen Drivers Text Behind Wheel

Feds are renewing crackdown on distracted driving

(Newser) - More than half of high school seniors have texted while driving, according to a federal survey that collected the data for the first time ever. In the survey, 58% of 12th-graders admitted to texting or emailing while behind the wheel, while 43% of 11th-graders said they did also, reports AP...

Teen Gets Jail Time in Fatal Texting Crash

Massachusetts youth will spend a year in prison

(Newser) - A Massachusetts teenager is going to prison for a year because he was texting while driving and caused a fatal accident, the Boston Globe reports. Aaron Deveau, now 18, crossed the center line and smashed into a vehicle driven by a 55-year-old who died from his injuries. The judge sentenced...

Judge: Text Sender Can't Be Sued in Crash

Girlfriend sent driver a text moments before crash

(Newser) - Should the person who sends a text message to a driver be held liable if an accident occurs? A judge in New Jersey says no. He threw out a lawsuit today against a young woman who texted her boyfriend moments before he crashed into two motorcyclists, reports the Star-Ledger . "...

DOT Rules Would Limit Car Gadget Use

Agency pushes voice-command systems over 'visual-manual' ones

(Newser) - The Department of Transportation has issued its first draft guidelines to deal with distracted driving, and they ban a lot more than just sending text messages. The guidelines recommend that automakers limit cars' "infotainment" systems so that while a car is in motion, all tasks can be performed with...

NTSB Bid to Ban All Phone Use in Cars Is 'Overkill'

Why can't drivers use hand-free sets?

(Newser) - The NTSB's proposal for a nationwide ban on the use of cell phones while driving, even of the hands-free variety, "is impractical, it's overkill, and it doesn't make sense," writes Sascha Segan at PC Magazine . Authorities can and should come down hard on anyone caught...

NTSB: Ban Phones While Driving

Agency recommends much stricter rules across the nation

(Newser) - States should ban all driver use of cell phones and other portable electronic devices, except in emergencies, the National Transportation Safety Board said today. The recommendation, unanimously agreed to by the five-member board, applies to both hands-free and hand-held phones and significantly exceeds any existing state laws restricting texting and...

Texting While Driving Surges
 Texting While Driving Surges 
survey says
Dec 8, 2011 10:48 AM CST

Texting While Driving Surges

Up 50% last year: survey

(Newser) - Despite 35 states now banning it, the practice of texting while driving continues to increase, according to new research. An observational study conducted at selected stoplights and intersections last year found that at any given moment, 0.9% of drivers were using a hand-held device; that's up from 0....

Free App Stops Texting While Driving

...and tweeting, Facebooking, and emailing, too

(Newser) - In the habit of whipping off a few texts and emails while driving? Then know that 23% of all US motor vehicle accidents, or 1.3 million crashes annually, are caused by cell phone talking and texting—and know that there's a free app to stop you. Called iZup...

Driver in Texting Death Can't Have Phone in Car

It's part of plea deal struck for probation

(Newser) - A modern punishment to fit a modern plague: A California woman who killed an 80-year-old pedestrian last year while she was driving and texting will no longer be able to have a cell phone in her car, reports the Glendale News Press . It's part of a plea deal struck...

For Drivers Who Text: a Scarlet Bracelet

Iowa authorities try colorful warnings for the time being

(Newser) - Iowa drivers caught texting while driving under a new law aren't getting tickets. Instead, police are handing out brightly colored thumb bracelets that bear the phrase TXTING KILLS, reports the Wall Street Journal . The idea is to raise awareness, with fines kicking in next year. State employees are also distributing...

Texting, Driving Has Killed 16K in US

And it's spiked since 2005

(Newser) - Sure, you know that distracted driving causes fender-benders, but what about 16,000 deaths? That's how many Americans died because of texting while driving from 2001 to 2007, reports Aol News, with a new study citing a significant spike in the years since 2005. "Distracted driving has reached epidemic...

Texting While Driving Likely Caused Celeb Surgeon's Crash

Heidi Montag's doctor went over Malibu cliff

(Newser) - Dr. Frank Ryan, plastic surgeon to the stars, was texting while driving just before he went over a cliff in Malibu and died, his ex-girlfriend tells People . Ryan, who performed surgery on Heidi Montag among others, reportedly went over the side around 4:30pm. Shortly before that, he tweeted a...

When Is a PSA Too Blunt?
 When Is a PSA Too Blunt? 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Aug 1, 2010 6:48 AM CDT

When Is a PSA Too Blunt?

Campaigners resort to 'high-sensation' approach

(Newser) - When it comes to public service announcements, can you be too forthright? That's the question raised by a campaign against texting while driving. The ad shows, in what ABC describes as "gory, throat-grabbing detail," a dramatic car crash caused by a distracted driver and a slow-motion sequence that...

Ford Cars to Read Text Messages Aloud

Company frees drivers' hands for safety

(Newser) - The next generation of Ford cars will be able to read your text messages aloud. The update to Ford's SYNC technology—which will be available on 2011 models—is pitched as a safety improvement so drivers can keep their hands on the wheel. The new version of SYNC (for Blackberry...

Grisly Don't-Text-and-Drive Ad Comes to US

UK mini-movie to be edited to 30 seconds

(Newser) - A blood-soaked UK ad warning of the consequences of driving while texting has made its way stateside, albeit in a highly edited form. The original ad clocks in at four minutes, showing in slow, excruciating detail the results of a fictionalized three-car crash. There's a lot of blood, dead teenagers,...

Apps Prevent Your Kid From Doing This

Program locks up phones when they're in motion

(Newser) - If you're desperate to stop your teenager from becoming the latest moron to crash their car while texting someone, rest easy; technology is here to help. A wave of clever new apps make it physically impossible to use your phone while driving, reports David Pogue of the New York Times...

Oprah Winfrey: Text, Drive, Kill Somebody

Queen of talk warns of dangers behind the wheel

(Newser) - She's made her living as the queen of talk, but Oprah Winfrey wants you zip it behind the wheel. Winfrey takes to the op-ed pages of the New York Times today to warn of the dangers of distracted driving, citing a 9-year-old girl killed "just 15 pedals from her...

Dead Teens' Final Texts Star in New Ad Campaign
Dead Teens' Final Texts Star in New Ad Campaign
don't text and drive
Mar 8, 2010 8:13 AM CST

Dead Teens' Final Texts Star in New Ad Campaign

Campaign pushes to stop texting while behind the wheel

(Newser) - "No text is worth dying over" is the message of a new campaign to stop young drivers from texting behind the wheel. The campaign, being launched today by AT&T, features parents of teenagers who died texting, like 18-year-old Mariah West, who flipped her car into oncoming traffic while...

States Roll Out Bans on Texting While Driving

23 states mull laws against practice already banned in 19

(Newser) - Alarmed by the dangers of driving while text messaging, legislatures in 23 states are considering outlawing the practice, which 19 states already ban. Lawmakers “often get involved because there's a high-profile accident that had to do with texting,” an expert tells USA Today . “Also, because everybody has...

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