Consumer Reports: safety while driving

In this report: Overview; A problem of focus; Taking action; What teenagers say; What's changing drivers' behavior; Smart-phone aids to reduce distraction; What you can do

Taking action

Last reviewed: April 2011

This article appeared in
April 2011 Consumer Reports Magazine.

A number of state and local governments have reacted to that problem with legislation, a route that's favored by 89 percent of our survey respondents. Currently 30 states, plus the District of Columbia, ban all drivers from texting while driving. Nine states, plus D.C., have banned talking on a handheld phone.

LaHood, who has made distracted driving a top priority, would like to see all states pass such laws. The DOT is working with interested states and has drafted a sample law to prohibit texting while driving that states can use as a blueprint for their own legislation.

But LaHood would like to go further. "We're going to push Congress to pass a federal law," he said in a wide-ranging interview with Consumer Reports. "We believe a federal law with good enforcement can change people's behavior." Moreover, he wants to see texting and handheld-phone use classified as primary offenses. In many areas they are secondary offenses, which means police cannot ticket drivers unless they are pulled over for another reason. "We've adopted it as our signature safety program because we think we'll save a lot of lives," he says.

Among survey respondents who have changed or stopped behaviors related to distracted driving, 44 percent cited such bans as an influence. But simply passing laws may not be enough.

A September 2010 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety revealed that accidents had not declined in four states after texting bans were passed. In fact, insurance claims increased in three of the four. And those findings are consistent with a previous study the IIHS conducted on handheld-phone bans.

"You can pass all the laws you want," LaHood says, "but if they're not enforced, they're not really good laws."

In its report, the IIHS speculates that drivers might have been "moving their phones down and out of sight when they texted, in recognition that what they were doing was illegal." That could increase the danger because drivers had to take their eyes off of the road for a longer time.

The result of effective enforcement is evident in a pilot program that's being conducted in Syracuse, N.Y., and Hartford, Conn. Those cities, with support from the DOT, are using the message, "Phone in one hand, ticket in the other," to see whether high-visibility police enforcement and active media messaging can reduce incidents of distracted driving. After two of the four planned waves had been completed, Hartford had a 56 percent drop in handheld cell-phone use and texting declined 68 percent. In Syracuse, handheld use was down 38 percent and texting was down 42 percent.

"We know there is a dramatic change in behavior when somebody gets a ticket, when a law is enforced," LaHood says.

Robbin Cabelus, Connecticut's Transportation Planning Director, said that the combination of the media campaign and heightened enforcement has been the key to success and that the police now believe handheld cell-phone use and texting are offenses worth ticketing. Many offenders claimed that they didn't think they would get caught, she said.

According to our survey, making people aware of the problem can also be effective. Sixty-six percent of respondents who reduced or stopped such behaviors said they did so because of reading or hearing about the dangers. Twenty percent said they were influenced by media campaigns.

To help in that area, the DOT maintains a website, at www.distraction.gov, that provides information and resources, and testimonials from families who have been affected. Oprah Winfrey joined the cause last year with her highly publicized "No Phone Zone" campaign, asking people to sign pledges not to drive distracted. And in January 2010 FocusDriven, a support and advocacy organization for victims, was formed to help spread the word.

In addition, many high schools have added distraction to their driver-education curriculum and have established student-run groups to help educate other students. A national organization called SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) encourages teenagers to speak up in dangerous situations and uses social media to portray such behavior as uncool.

"The peer-to-peer model works. Kids listen to other kids," says 16-year-old Laura Saldivar, of Algonquin, Ill., who became an activist after losing her cousin and seeing the impact of other distracted-driving crashes in her community. "My friends know not to text with me in the car."

Action is also taking place among commercial fleets. President Obama signed an executive order banning federal employees from text messaging in specific situations. The DOT has banned commercial bus and truck drivers from texting while on the job. And according to the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety, more than 4,100 public and private organizations will have instituted a cell-phone policy for their drivers by the end of 2011.

Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, urges action in several areas to combat the problem of distracted driving:

Get more data

To understand the full scope of the problem, police departments need to develop and apply a standard system to track distraction and device use in accident reports.

Institute laws

All states need to pass appropriate legislation, make texting and cell-phone use primary offenses, and use graduated licensing programs to prevent cell-phone use by new drivers.