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| Cell phone ban while driving urged in the U.S. |
With its five members unanimously concurring, the NTSB called for a nationwide ban on the use of cell phones and text messaging devices while driving in connection with a deadly highway pileup in Missouri in August 2010 which was reportedly caused by the inattention of a 19 year-old-pickup driver who sent or received 11 texts in the 11 minutes immediately before the crash which killed the driver and a 15-year-old student and injuring thirty-eight other people. The new recommendation applies to both hands-free and hand-held phones and would outlaw non-emergency phone calls and texting by operators of every vehicle on the road.
NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman said the Missouri Accident was "big red flag for all drivers."
"Driving was not his only priority," Hersman added. "No call, no text, no update is worth a human life."
According to statistics, crashes caused by drivers using cell phones rose from 636,000 in 2003 to 1.6 million in 2008.
A new study by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has found that texting while driving has risen 50% and that two out of every ten drivers admit to it. The NHTSA apparently had people watching at intersections for people texting and found 1% of all drivers that came through an intersection were texting.
Seemingly a small number, however at a busy intersection that 1% can be a lot of people. According to the study, 18% of drivers admit to sending texts or emails at the wheel with younger drivers 21 to 24 being the worst offenders. In 2012, 3,092 deaths on the highways around the country were attributed to distracted driving.
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