Those with texting fixations have become such a menace in America that one city has imposed a ban on texting while walking. Fort Lee, NJ now makes it illegal to walk while texting. (more…)

Share on Facebook

Emmy-winning Fox TV series Glee ended its third season’s winter finale Tuesday night with a shocking cliffhanger, as pretty cheerleader Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron) was hit broadside by a truck when she took her eyes off the road repeatedly to drive while texting.

Whether the character lives or dies won’t be revealed until the musical about a high school glee club returns on April 10. But given reactions on Twitter, some Glee fans are in an uproar and are extremely upset.

Perhaps they should be, because today’s teens need more and louder wake-up calls about the horrific dangers of distracted driving, whether it’s due to texting, making cell phone calls or cavorting with friends who are also in the car. (more…)

Share on Facebook

Houston Police are investigating a fatal traffic collision Wednesday afternoon in which the driver who died apparently was both speeding and using his cell phone at the time.

Police said a man driving a Ford Taurus on US 290 inbound at Mangum apparently lost control of his vehicle, overcorrected and veered across several traffic lanes, hitting at least two other vehicles in the process. (more…)

Share on Facebook

Share on Facebook

Longfellow Elementary School students Kaitlynn Sanders, Nautica Winkfield (seated) and Helena Marlowe.

How important is it to stop the deaths and devastation caused by distracted driving? Not enough to compel many state governments — including Texas’ — to do the right thing. And not enough for cell phone companies to set their greed aside and quit fighting safety measures.

But distracted driving dangers have been important enough to spur action by a group of Houston school kids, who seem more wise than many adults. They’re students at Longfellow Elementary School, and what they’ve done is so noteworthy that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has written about it in his personal blog, which has a photo of the students.

In today’s Fast Lane: The Official Blog of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, LaHood commends the Houston kids for taking “public education into their own hands.”

“Budget problems prevented the City of Houston from posting signs near Longfellow alerting drivers to the dangers of texting and cell phone use while driving in a school zone,” LaHood wrote. “So safety-minded students, parents and area residents joined together to create and post their own signs.”

LaHood’s blog also links to “Neighbors Taking Charge,” an item by the Bellaire Examiner noting efforts by the Longfellow PTA and neighboring Woodside Civic Club to make a bad situation better.

(more…)

Share on Facebook

A current TV ad for Chevy Cruze shows a young man and woman kissing on a sidewalk at the end of a date. He enters his car and pulls away.

Not having anything better to do but drive a vehicle through traffic, he looks at his rear-view mirror to punch a button, then is asked by an automated voice, “Good evening, what would you like to do?”

“Facebook news feed,” he answers, vaguely observing the road ahead.

The voice replies, “First post. Jennifer French. Best first date ever.”

A voice-over then plugs the car’s real-time Facebook status feature, capped by the slogan “When the good news just can’t wait.”

Oh — it can’t? Is that the message we should send America about indulging in the distracted driving that kills over 5,000 persons yearly and injures — often seriously — half a million? Or can Internet access wait until arriving safely at a destination? (more…)

Share on Facebook

In California, it’s against the law to hold a cell phone while driving. Hands-free devices are allowed, but sacrificing a hand from the wheel — and a large chunk of one’s attention from the road  — is forbidden.

Yet Maria Schwarzenegger was photographed yakking by phone as she drove in California last fall, despite a law her husband helped pass. And on Monday, Disney Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus was stopped by police in North Hollywood as she chatted by phone while driving to a salon for a massage.

(more…)

Share on Facebook

Emmy-nominated actress Jane Lynch, who plays fiery cheerleader coach Sue Sylvester on hit Fox TV show Glee, has joined LG Text Ed, a new campaign to coach parents how to teach teens to use mobile phones responsibly and avoid distracted driving.

Lynch will appear in webisodes for the campaign on driving while distracted, and she also will be a member of its council. The effort is sponsored by LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company, a division of South Korea’s LG Electronics.

(more…)

Share on Facebook

Beverly Hills, CA plastic surgeon Dr. Frank Ryan loved to send and receive messages via texts. But apparently he didn’t get one message until too late: Texting while driving kills.

Body reshaper of reality TV’s Heidi Montag, rock music’s Gene Simmons and Vince Neil and modeling’s Janice Dickinson, Ryan, 50, died Monday. It seems the Jeep he was driving veered off the Pacific Coast Highway and crashed upside-down at the bottom of a 200-foot embankment.

(more…)

Share on Facebook

America’s teens seem to have a disconnect between what they’ve been told and what they do. They’ve been told and given fair warning that distracted driving is deadly, killing 6,000 Americans yearly and injuring hundreds of thousands. Yet 86 per cent of teen drivers indulge in distracted driving anyway, often in the form of texting or making cell phone calls while at the wheel.

This finding came via a study conducted by Seventeen magazine and AAA auto club and reported by USA Today. It reported other common forms of distracted driving among teens as eating, adjusting a music device, applying makeup and driving with four or more other teens in the vehicle.

(more…)

Share on Facebook