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Today, April 30, Oprah Winfrey parks herself squarely in front of distracted driving. She and (the less telegenic) Governors' Highway Safety Association and State Highway Safety Agencies, have declared the day No Phone Zone Day. A Washington, D.C. rally, a special edition of Oprah's show and other scheduled events are planned to underscore the dangers of drving while talking on the cell phone or texting. No Phone Zone Day not only hopes to raise awareness but also asks drivers to pledge to drive device-free. But are people willing to hang up their driving multi-tasking? Connecticut isn't waiting for the answer. Because as DMV Commissioner Robert M. Ward said at an April 12 event for teens, The DMV sees distracted driving, particularly cell phone use among younger drivers, as an increasing problem across the state.
The Connecticut Legislature's Transportation Committee in February created a revised version of the state's existing cell phone bill. The original bill, from 2005, requires drivers to use a handsfree device and gives a warning for a first offense. The revised bill imposes a fine for a first offense, rather than the 2005 law's warning. Fines in the new bill also are increased; they now start at $100 and go up to $200 for a third and subsequent violations. Importantly, the revised version of the law catches up to technology: texting while driving is also a violation in the new version of the bill.
State Senator Bob Duff, who represents Norwalk and Darien, is Vice Chair of the Transportation Committee which created the updated version of the distracted driving bill. Fairfield and Westport's State Representative Kim Fawcett is also a member of the committee. Duff hopes his committee's revised distracted driving bill can be approved by next Wednesday, the last day of the legislature's session. The time has come to end the first-time warning (that exists in the original bill) because now there is new technology and culturally, we understand the dangers these activities pose while driving, he says.
The dangers, of course, include death. In 2008, nearly 6,000 people nationwide died in car crashes caused by distracted drivers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association's most recent figures. Only 33 states break out statistics for accidents involving cell phones though, so the NHTSA's numbers don't represent the entire country. Connecticut doesn't compile cell phone accident statistics, so the real impact of distracted driving state-wide is not known. However, consider the following: from statistics that do exist, the NHTSA estimates your chance of getting in an accident increases by 300% if you're talking on your cell phone while driving. Though texting isn't included, it's fairly safe to assume its rate is at least as high. Even if Connecticut's revised law passes, it can only go so far as a deterrent; people, ultimately, make their own choice about whether to use devices when they drive. In otherwords, it's your call.
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