Texting, driving not LOL 4U in most states

A series of distracted driving campaigns have been rolling out across the country since a Massachusetts teen was convicted of vehicular homicide caused by cell phone usage.

The awareness campaigns are intended to reduce and ultimately stop accidents related by cell phone usage, a problem experts say has become a nationwide epidemic.

“Every single day, I think we see someone driving while distracted,” Assistant Commissioner Warren Stanley said. “The list of ways is endless. But we all know is it leads to tragic events involving injuries and deaths.”

The California Highway Patrol launched its “Phone in One Hand, Ticket in the Other” initiative. The event was co-sponsored by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration.

Stanley pointed out cell phone use isn’t the only source of driver distraction. Other causes include eating, drinking, talking, grooming, reading, using a navigation system, watching a video and adjusting a radio.

According to distraction.gov, a website dedicated to addressing problems with distracted driving, 3092 people were killed and 416,000 were injured in 2010 from crashes involving a distracted driver, and 18 percent of injury crashes were reported as distraction-affected crashes.

Aaron Deveau, the Massachusetts teen, became the first driver in the state convicted of motor vehicle homicide by texting. Prosecutors argued Deveau was not paying attention when he was driving and had sent a text two minutes before the fatal crash. His vehicle swerved across the centerline into a truck and killed the driver, Donald Bowley, Jr, 55.

Deveau was sentenced to two years in prison and the loss of his license for 15 years.

Texting and driving is a crime in some 39 states. In 2011, California officers gave out 475,000 citations for distracted driving—an increase of 175,000 citations since the anti-texting law was established in 2009.

A study conducted at Carnegie Mellon University established a direct link between driving impairment and cell phone usage. According to neuroscientist Marcel Just, listening to someone speak over a cell phone reduced brain activity associated with driving by more than one third.

The amount of decrease can cause cell phone users to commit the same kinds of driving errors that occur under the influence of alcohol, the study showed.

The study was conducted with a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on volunteers using a driver simulator. It showed they were more likely to weave in their lane when listening to a sentence.

Hands-free or voice activate devices were not sufficient in eliminating distractions, Just discovered in his research.

“All the data has pointed in the same direction, that cell phone use is very dangerous while driving,” said Chris Cochran, assistant director of marketing and public affairs at the Governor’s Highway Safety Association. “Phone usage is a risk, but texting is worse because it has the same brain disconnect, but also the eyes are diverted.”

According to distraction.gov, most crashes have an average of a two second reaction time. When texting, people are looking away from the road an average of five second spurts at a time, leading to increasing numbers of distracted driving-related fatalities. Previously accounting for two percent of fatal crashes, recent data shows that number is climbing closer to four percent.

“This problem didn’t exist at all 15 years ago and was only recognized five years ago. It’s the first brand new problem we’ve had in decades,” Cochran said.