There is always a good amount of discussion on both sides of the issue of distracted driving and this week is no exception. If you haven’t seen these items in the news, or had the time to give them some thought, please take a couple of minutes to consider them now. They are important current events that affect distracted driving.
House Bill amendment that would limit DOT powers.
Every few years, the federal government’s surface transportation programs, including highway and inter-modal initiatives, must be reauthorized by
Congressional legislation, which sets the government’s priorities on transportation issues. Both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate are taking up their respective surface transportation reauthorization bills this week.
The Senate bill contains a $39 million distracted driving grant program to provide incentive funding to states that adopt laws that prohibit all cell phone use by teen drivers and texting by drivers of all ages.
While the House bill does not contain a distracted driving incentive grant program for states, several members of Congress are offering amendments to the bill that address this issue. The most troubling of the amendments is an amendment by Rep. Robert Woodall that would severely undermine the role of the federal government in the fight against distracted driving.
Rep. Woodall’s amendment #30 would prohibit the U.S. Department of Transportation from regulating the use of cellular phones in vehicles. This would mean that agencies like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) could not set new distracted driving standards, thus we would lose a potential partner in the fight against distracted driving.
We have set up a very easy way for you to help bring this issue forward to your state’s Representative by clicking here to compose and send a letter asking them to stand against this amendment. It will literally take 3 minutes of your time and very few clicks. Please do so and pass this link on to others you know.
NHTSA/DOT propose guidelines for auto makers
Exactly pertaining to the above issue, the DOT and NHTSA released a 180 page report just yesterday that proposes some guidelines for auto makers to help them decide the design of the newest craze in cars, suv’s and trucks: the built-in “infotainment systems” that allow the driver to do everything from placing a call to sending a text or email, and even updating their favorite social networking sites while driving. This is troubling for two reasons.

Secondly, and more importantly to FocusDriven members, is the fact that this flies in the face of so many victim families whose loved ones were killed due to drivers whose minds were distracted by cell phone conversations as they looked straight ahead. The DOT video series, “Faces of Distraction,” have stories of families whose loved one(s) were killed by drivers affected by inattention blindness when they ran red lights or crossed center lines.
Comments are being sought about these recommendations but the DOT seems to be giving the auto industry an approval and a blue print for installing more social networking applications, ticket buying apps, Internet searches and entertainment applications of all sorts – all of which have nothing to do with the operation of vehicles or keeping drivers focused on the task of driving safely.
To submit a comment about these recommendations (and to view the files) go to the regulations.gov page for this docket here, and press the “submit comment” button.






