Center for Transportation Research: Highlights

According to a study released today by the Highway Loss Data Institute, hands-free devices are proving to be just as distracting as hand-held ones. The study focused on insurance claim rates in New York, Connecticut, California and Washington, D.C. to see if accident frequency was reduced after implementation of hand-held phone bans. The study, the [...]

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Twenty-eight percent of traffic accidents occur when people talk on cellphones or send text messages while driving, according to a study released Tuesday by the National Safety Council. The vast majority of those crashes, 1.4 million annually, are caused by cellphone conversations, and 200,000 are blamed on text messaging, according to the report from the [...]

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President Obama banned federal employees from text-messaging while on government business, driving government vehicles or using government equipment. The executive order also directs executive departments and agencies to encourage contractors and contractor employees to adopt and enforce policies to ban texting while driving on official government business. At the opening of the summit on transportation [...]

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National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the federal safety agency that investigates transportation accidents is banning texting and talking on cell phones by its employees while driving on government business. NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said Tuesday she’s adopting the policy because she wants her agency to follow the same safety practices it recommends for others…..The NTSB’s [...]

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According to Nationwide research, surveys indicate that many drivers are in denial about their cell phone and texting habits when behind the wheel. Nationwide Insurance noted that in its most recent On Your Side survey – conducted by Harris Interactive via its National Quorum telephone polling service – that 80% of Americans favor a ban [...]

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Watch YouTube Video Traffic in the San Francisco Bay Area is bad. But if the early results from the Mobile Millennium project are any indication, our ability to navigate through that traffic is about to get a lot better. The idea behind Mobile Millennium is simple. Cell phone users download free software that automatically and [...]

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http://www.technewsworld.com/story/67876.html?wlc=1250531196 TechNewsWorld posted an article summarizing recent studies on texting and talking on cell phones while driving. A recent study that monitored actual use of phones while driving suggests the campaign for safe use of handsets on the road may need to be radically refocused. It found that texting — a practice that until recently [...]

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Image from myfoxaustin.com Texas drivers, do you use your cell phone while driving through a school zone?  A new law prohibits this and other traffic concerns, beginning September 1, 2009. For the KVUE news article and video, click here. For a quick look at some of the changes, see the Texas Motor Transportation Association Poster [...]

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