Posted on July 30, 2010 by Scott Grossman

Second Distracted Driving Summit in September Promises More Advances

The second Distracted Driving Summit will be held in September this year in Washington DC. 

Last year’s first ever Distracted Driving Summit was followed by major advances in combating the effect of technological distractions behind the wheel. Since that Summit in October, the federal administration has banned texting while driving for commercial bus and truck drivers. There is also a national ban on the use of cell phones while driving for federal government employees. The first Distracted Driving Summit also resulted in a lot of media coverage about the problem of cell phone use and texting while driving, and several states have enacted some sort of legislation to tackle the problem.  Besides, there is now an organization dedicated to lobbying against cell phone use while driving. The group is called Focus Driven, and hopes to do for distracted driving what Mothers against Drunk Driving has done for impaired driving. 

 

The Department of Transportation is currently involved in funding a crackdown on distracted driving in the state of New York. The agency is investing more than $300,000 in these efforts. The campaign involves education, awareness, flyers and enforcement. If the campaign is found to be successful in reducing cell phone use while driving in Syracuse, it could be extended to other cities in New York State, and even the country.

Considering the great strides that have been made since the first summit, New Jersey personal injury lawyers, and highway safety groups will be hopeful that the second summit to will increase momentum on this issue. As a New Jersey car accident lawyer, I would like to see more and tougher enforcement of our own handheld cell phone and texting bans.

 

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Posted on January 31, 2010 by Scott Grossman

New Rule Bans Truckers from Text Messaging While Driving

A new rule which goes into immediate effect, bans commercial truck drivers and bus drivers from sending and receiving text messages while driving. The new rule was announced by the Department of Transportation this week, and aims to cut down on the risk of accidents from truck drivers distracted by texting at the wheel.

The ban is a part of efforts by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to deal with the problem of distracted driving. . Secretary LaHood has taken up the issue with great enthusiasm, and has been responsible for a number of recent steps that aim to eliminate these risks.

As a Monmouth County truck accident lawyer, I find this new rule very encouraging and a great start to dealing with the problem of distracted driving. . But the fact is that there are other factors that need to be dealt with as far as truck safety is concerned. Truck drivers continue to be at risk from the use of computers that they use to receive instructions from their main offices. A trucker is prohibited from using these computers while the truck is in operation. However, use of these computers while the rig is in motion happens more often than we like to think about.

Last year, a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute measured the risk of accidents from text messaging by truck drivers, and found that the risk increased by up to 23 times. The Virginia Tech study also measured the effect of distraction from the computers in the cabs, and found that these increased the risk of an accident by up to 10 times. The Department of Transportation has said that it will take up the issue of the use of computers in commercial trucks very soon.

Scott Grossman is a Monmouth County truck accident lawyer, representing injured victims of truck, tractor trailer and semi truck accidents in Freehold, Howell, Aberdeen, Marlboro and across Monmouth County and the state of New Jersey.

 

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Posted on November 19, 2009 by Scott Grossman

Survey Shows Teens Pick up Texting-While-Driving Behavior from Parents

As a New Jersey personal injury lawyer, I have been concerned about the growing use of cell phones while driving by teens, and the tendency to text while behind the wheel. A new Pew survey shows that the problem may be worse then we believe.

The researchers surveyed 800 teens between the ages of 12 and 17 between June and September this year. Seventy four additional teens, who were part of 9 focus groups in New York, Atlanta, Denver and Anna Arbor were also surveyed. While some of the results were not too surprising, the others were extremely worrisome.

 

The survey suggests that about a quarter of teens aged between 16 and17 years admit to having texted while driving. These statistics were not a shocker,  but what did concern me were the findings that approximately half of the respondents aged between 12 and 17 admitted to having been a passenger in a car with an adult driver texting at the wheel. In fact, these teens frequently saw their parents texting while driving.

Reactions to this behavior were mixed.  While in some cases, teens admitted to being nervous or scared when their parents texted while at the wheel, other teens had grown used to such parental behavior, and thought texting while driving was not a big deal. It’s the second group of teen motorists that I am concerned about. Texting while driving is extremely dangerous, and when a teen sees his or her parent addicted to text messaging while at the wheel, it only helps to develop and foster such reckless behavior in impressionable young motorists.

As a New Jersey car accident lawyer, I believe that parents have as much of a responsibility as schools and law enforcement authorities to develop safe driving practices in children. It’s alarming that so many parents seem to recklessly text at the wheel, unaware or uncaring that their children are observing and learning from them. Parents must step up and contribute to efforts to tackle the texting while driving menace.

 

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