The launch of the department’s “Faces of Distracted Driving” campaign, has been designed to invite attention to the nearly 5,500 people who died and more than 500,000 who were injured in 2009 road accidents related to what’s being called “distracted driving.”
Technology to Disable Mobile Phones in Auto-mobiles: Several states of America have outlawed texting while driving while others prohibit holding a mobile phone while driving, but these little-enforced laws haven’t persuaded drivers to put away their mobile phones and keep their eyes on the road. LaHood, thinks that additional measures are needed, “I think the technology is there, and I think you’re going to see the technology become adaptable in auto-mobiles to disable these cell phones.” Software from companies such as Zoomsafer, tXtBlocker and iZup can determine that the user is in a moving vehicle—by gauging the signals passing between mobile phone towers and disable the mobile phone.
Video Campaign to Humanize the Problem: The Transportation Department’s online video campaign works to humanize the problem by telling the stories of its victims: of 13-year-old Margay, who was killed when her school bus was struck by a semi truck whose driver was talking on the mobile phone and said he never saw the bus; of 58-year-old Julie, who while out for a walk was hit by a truck, whose driver hadn’t looked up at the road for nearly 9 seconds, as he was busy with his mobile; and 16-year-old Ashley, who lost control of her car while texting on the mobile phone. “These videos are dramatic evidence that the lives lost to America’s distracted driving epidemic aren’t statistics,” LaHood said in a Nov. 19 statement, kicking off the campaign. “They’re children, parents, neighbors and friends.”
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