Latest Distracted Driving Headlines
All the headlines from our Distracted Driving Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Restrictions on Cellphones While Driving Not Being Added in Louisiana
May 21 2018 // Louisiana will not be enacting a ban on hand-held cellphone use while driving. A House-backed proposal stalled in the Senate, and the regular session ended Friday without action on the bill, killing it. Rep. Mike Huval, a...
Georgia Bans Use of Handheld Devices While Driving
May 16 2018 // Georgia has become the latest state to ban the use of handheld devices while behind the wheel. Gov. Nathan Deal signed H.B. 673 into law on May 2, making Georgia the 16th state to ban using a cellphone, including texting,...
Money Talks When Getting Teens to Stop Texting While Driving
Apr 27 2018 // Show them the money! Teens who text while driving may be convinced to reduce risky cellphone use behind the wheel when offered financial incentives such as auto insurance apps that monitor driving behavior and reward good...
Pricing Insurance to Reflect Distracted Driving Risk
Apr 24 2018 // Insurance companies are finally putting a price on the risk of distracted driving, and it’s relatively cheap. Last year, a ticket for using a mobile phone while driving added $226 to the average insurance policy, an...
State-by-State Study Shows Drivers Are Texting More Despite Bans
Apr 10 2018 // If you’re driving right now, it’s far more likely you are reading this on your phone than you would have been a year ago. Despite a harrowing surge in traffic fatalities, American drivers appear to be getting...
Georgia Close to Passing Distracted Driving Bill
Mar 27 2018 // Georgia is one step closer to joining 15 other states that have already made it illegal to hold a cellphone while driving. By a non-unanimous voice vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved a bill by...
The Lowdown on Distracted Drivers
Mar 9 2018 // What’s Distracting You? This week I added Driving to Distraction, by Esurance, to IJ’s Research & Trends as a resource for discussion around driver safety, whether with family members or clients. The study...
Bans on Hand-Held Calls More Effective than Texting Bans with Teen Drivers: Study
Mar 5 2018 // State laws banning hand-held cellphone calls while driving can be effective in reducing teens’ hand-held conversations while driving, but texting bans are not effective in reducing texting while driving, according to...
Prosecutor Blames Cell Phone Use, Speeding in Bus Driver Fatal Crash Trial
Mar 1 2018 // A Tennessee school bus driver was on his cellphone and driving 20 mph (30 kph) over the speed limit when he caused the crash that killed six elementary school students, a prosecutor said in court Tuesday. Prosecutor...
Study Finds Teen Drivers Ignore Texting Bans; Urges Bans on Hand-held Calls
Feb 21 2018 // State laws banning hand-held cellphone calls while driving can be effective in reducing teens’ hand-held conversations while driving, but texting bans are not effective in reducing texting while driving, according to...
Wyoming Bill Seeking Prison for Deadly Texting While Driving Fails
Feb 20 2018 // Lawmakers in the Wyoming House have voted down a bill that would have meant prison time for drivers who cause a deadly wreck while texting on their phones. Texting while driving in Wyoming currently is a misdemeanor...
Texas Sees Increase in Auto Fatalities in 2017
Feb 13 2018 // More than 3,700 people were killed on Texas roadways last year marking a 10 percent increase in traffic deaths from 2016, according to data from the Texas Department of Transportation. The Insurance Council of Texas...
Good2Go Auto Insurance to Offer Distracted Driving App Through LifeSaver
Jan 23 2018 // Good2Go Auto Insurance, Inc., has partnered with mobile software provider LifeSaver to fight distracted driving. Good2Go Auto Insurance’s direct policyholders now have access to the The LiveSaver mobile app to help...
Telematics CEO: 5 Trends to Watch in 2018 in Auto Insurance
Jan 5 2018 // Auto insurance is experiencing its most seismic shift since it began over 100 years ago. If 2017 shook up the industry with an increasing number of carriers adopting mobile telematics programs for UBI, 2018 will break the...
Florida Lawmakers to Reconsider Texting While Driving Ban
Jan 3 2018 // Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Mark Wysocky says it is hard to separate texting drivers from drunken drivers as he cruises down a suburban interstate highway. Both weave. They speed up and slow down for no obvious reason and...
Prosecutor Claims Tennessee School Bus Driver in Deadly Crash Was on Phone
Dec 22 2017 // The driver in a Tennessee school bus crash that killed six elementary school students took a cell phone call at the time of the crash, a prosecutor said Tuesday. According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Hamilton...
Safety Group Says GM’s In-Car Shopping App Encourages Distracted Driving
Dec 12 2017 // A new in-car application from General Motors Co. that lets drivers order coffee and browse for hotels while behind the wheel has been met with outcry from a prominent safety group. The app, dubbed Marketplace, allows...
Oregon Cop Says New Phone Law Makes Smartphones Like ‘Hot Lava’
Oct 30 2017 // In the three years that Springfield police officer Mike Massey has been a motorcycle traffic enforcement officer, he’s seen it all when it comes to cellphone use and driving. In addition to witnessing drivers talking...
Distracted Driving Is More Deadly Than Data Shows: Special Report
Oct 18 2017 // Jennifer Smith doesn’t like the term “accident.” It implies too much chance and too little culpability. A “crash” killed her mother in 2008, she insists, when her car was broadsided by another...
Traffic Accident Deaths Still Increasing as Distracted Driving Reports Decline
Oct 9 2017 // Traffic accident deaths in the U.S. continue to rise, even while deaths related to distracted driving decline. Pedestrian and motorcyclist deaths are way up. The number of vehicle miles traveled on U.S. roads in 2016...
