Latest Distracted Driving Headlines
All the headlines from our Distracted Driving Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas Woman Sentenced in Distracted Driving Case
Oct 7 2009 // A state district judge in Texas has sentenced a woman to 30 days in jail, 10 years probation and ordered her to pay a $10,000 fine for criminally negligent homicide in connection with a case of “distracted...
Maine Woman Cited under New Distracted Driver Law
Oct 6 2009 // A West Bath, Maine woman who crashed her vehicle into a telephone pole has been cited under the state’s new distracted driver law. The Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Department says Kandi Frame was talking on a...
Survey: 1 Out of 5 Drivers Admits to Texting While Behind the Wheel
Oct 5 2009 // Nearly one out of five U.S. drivers surveyed has read or sent a text message while behind the wheel, even though nearly all of the respondents in an AAA survey released Sept. 25 considered such action...
Driver Distraction Costs 6,000 Lives a Year; Many Teens
Oct 1 2009 // Opening a government meeting on auto safety, the Obama administration reported Wednesday that nearly 6,000 people were killed and a half-million injured last year in vehicle crashes connected to driver distraction, a...
Ban on Texting While Driving in Arkansas Starts Oct. 1
Sep 29 2009 // A law that goes into effect Oct. 1 will prohibit Arkansas drivers from texting or sending e-mail from their handheld devices while driving. The Legislature passed the ban during the last session, calling it...
AAA Survey: 1 Out of 5 Drivers Admits to Texting While Behind the Wheel
Sep 28 2009 // Nearly one out of five U.S. drivers surveyed has read or sent a text message while behind the wheel, even though nearly all of the respondents in an AAA survey released on Friday considered such action...
U.S. Safety Agency Eyes Cell Phone Use Ban for Bus, Truck Drivers
Sep 25 2009 // Safety investigators told federal regulators three years ago that it was dangerous for bus drivers to talk on cell phones while driving and recommended a ban. The National Transportation Safety Board put that...
Kentucky Among States Considering Ban on Texting While Driving
Sep 15 2009 // Motorists would be forbidden to send text messages while behind the wheel under proposals awaiting legislative action in Kentucky early next year. Two lawmakers have filed bills that would add Kentucky to a growing list of...
U.S. Transportation Agency to Hold Distracted Driving Summit
Aug 4 2009 // U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced a September summit to address the dangers of text-messaging and other distractions behind the wheel. In late September, senior transportation officials, elected...
Lawmakers to Propose Ban on Texting while Driving
Jul 30 2009 // States would be required to ban driving while texting or face the loss of highway funds under legislation being pushed by a group of Democratic senators. Aimed at reducing driver distraction and highway deaths and...
Study: Texting while Driving More Dangerous than Previously Thought
Jul 29 2009 // Texting while driving increases the risk of a crash much more than previous studies have concluded with motorists taking their eyes off the road longer than they do when talking or listening on their cell phones, a safety...
Report: Federal Safety Agency Withheld Data on Dangers of Distracted Driving
Jul 22 2009 // The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gathered hundreds of pages of research and warnings about the hazards of drivers using cell phones, but withheld the information from the public in 2003 in part out of...
New York’s Dutchess County Bans Texting while Driving
Jul 14 2009 // New York’s Dutchess County is sending drivers a message: No more text messaging behind the wheel. County Executive William Steinhaus said Friday he wouldn’t veto a law against sending text messages while...
New Indiana Laws Include Teen Driver Cell Phone Ban
Jun 29 2009 // Indiana drivers under age 18 will soon be breaking the law if they use a cell phone while driving, as will school bus drivers who fail to make sure all students are off the bus at the end of their routes. The new laws,...
North Carolina Bans Texting While Driving
Jun 23 2009 // North Carolina has become the seventh state to pass a ban this year on texting while driving. So how did Gov. Beverly Perdue get the word out? She had an aide send a text message announcing the governor has signed the ban...
Delaware City Considering Phone Ban for Drivers
Jun 22 2009 // The Wilmington, Delaware City Council is considering a cell phone ban for drivers. The bill introduced Thursday would ban the use of hand-held phones while driving. Councilman Michael Brown believes the issue of safety...
Massachusetts Senate Budget Bans Texting while Driving
May 26 2009 // The Massachusetts Senate approved an amendment banning all Internet use while driving as part of its version of the state’s upcoming budget. Drivers would be banned from sending text messages, e-mailing or reading...
New DVD Shows Dangers of Texting and Driving
May 14 2009 // Texting while driving is now a crime in Utah. And for those who don’t know it, a new public-service DVD about an accident that killed two people when a driver who was texting collided with another vehicle will serve...
Florida Bills Limiting Cell Phone Use By Drivers Hit Dead End
Apr 29 2009 // Several bills that would have restricted drivers who talk or text message on their cell phones appear to be headed toward a dead end in the Florida Legislature. The bills would have banned drivers from sending text...
Texting and Driving to Mean Ticketing in Cleveland, Ohio
Apr 15 2009 // Cleveland, Ohio’s city council has voted to outlaw text-messaging while driving in the city. The proposal approved by council members on April 13 now goes to Mayor Frank Jackson and would take effect 90 days after he...
