28 percent of accidents involve talking, texting on cellphones

I do good just to drive. Don't see how anyone can text while driving. I can't even talk to the person next to me and keep my mind on the road.

Texting while driving will only get worse. I don't know what can be done to solve that problem.

Writing tickets to people texting will begin to get the message out same as the learning curve we had when they first said we have to wear seat belts. Won't happen tomorrow but I think we are heading in that direction.

I agree that this is a problem, but I certainly don't want to see some of the measures mentioned in this article used to prevent it (ie- signal blocking; reports of cellphone call records, etc.) We just keep on letting the government in our private lives more and more with out understanding the long term consequences. If a police officer spots someone using a cellphone or texting while driving or can ascertain that such usage caused an accident or traffic violation, then I'm all for penalties, but not another government intrusion into my life.

Driver dIstraction comes in many forms....you can look at the radio to turn the station, adjust volume, insert a CD....looking at the GPSr can cause a horrific accident. I won't get into the people I see putting on make-up...tossing back their head to get the last bit of soda out of the bottle or can....or involved in a heated conversation with another occupant of the vehicle...the list can go on and on.

Defensive driving is key... but even that cannot stop some inattentive driver from crashing into you.

Texting while driving is real scary. There are some voice to text apps out there for cell phones, but anything short of putting the phone away will not help the situation.

The new wave of anti-texting commercials are hopefully a good deterrent. Penalties are certainly the next step in prevention.

Unfortunately, as my dad always said, it's the other guy you need to worry about when driving. And the other guy is only getting more distracted as the years go by.

Thinking about how lawyers and law enforcement work and I can see the day that if you are in an accident, your cell phone log will be checked and if you were using the phone the accident will be your fault no matter what. Then your insurance company can raise your rates even cancel you and oh yes you'll have to go "NO phone driving classes".

We recently had a double fatal in the Burlington area. The suspected cause was texting by one of the drivers. A 20 and 30 year old died as a result of the accident. It will likely spur the VT legislature to enact legislation regarding texting AND cell phone usage while driving...which we still don't have.

is working in all 50 states to pass laws banning text messaging while driving. They have an article "Texting Hazards" in the January issue of their "AAA Living" magazine. One interesting statistic in the article is that 51% of teenage drivers say they text while driving.

Why do I personally not believe that the percentage is that high . . .

Statistics can be manipulated.

Yes, and probably 93% of all car accidents involved people who ate breakfast in the morning. That does not nececessarily mean there is a CAUSAL CONNECTION between all the accidents and breakfast...

I find the following quotation from the article highly dubious...

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"The vast majority of those crashes, 1.4 million annually, are CAUSED by cellphone conversations, and 200,000 are blamed on text messaging, according to the report from the council, a nonprofit group recognized by congressional charter as a leader on safety."

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The majority of 1.4 MILLION car crashes annually are CAUSED by cell phones? HUH? I think it odd that a paper as reputable as the WP would not at least include a short synopsis of how the council made the actual CAUSAL CONNECTION between a majority of 1.4 million car crashes and the cell phone.

That sort of breakthrough in the statistical analysis of human behavior would be a news article in itself...and possibly a Nobel Prize.

No...I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the words "CAUSE" and "CAUSED" are not being used properly by both the council and the WP.

So accidents must be up 28% from 15 years ago when cell phones were uncommon.

What, they aren't?

Who would think statistics could be manipulated?

I hope you have a citation for this statement.

For fatal accidents: http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx

Vehicle miles driven are up over 25% from 1994-2008. Fatal accidents are down a few percentage point over the same period.

I don't have a citation for non-fatal accident sat the moment, but I'm a recently retired law enforcement officer and I know accidents are overall steady.

Non hands free cellphone use was illegal here from Jan 1. Given what I've seen some drivers doing while driving I think that's a really good idea, and it will be difficult to text hands free!

There was a case a while ago in New York - 4x4 vs. 18 wheeler. 4 dead kids. Apparently the driver had sent several texts in the five minutes prior to the accident. I'm sure their parents would be happier if a strictly enforced "no texting" ban had been in place.

The problem though is getting the law enforced. It has been against the law here in Chicago for several years to talk on a cell phone unless it's hands free for several years, but police seldom if ever write tickets for it. I constantly see people driving down the street talking on their phones. It's sad when I see them, because I first have to figure out if they are driving drunk, or just on a cell phone-the end result is the same, weaving, inconsistent speed, crossing the lane dividers etc.

I was watching a show a few weeks ago where they compared drinking to texting and said texting was equal to being 10x over the legal drinking limits. crazy, people just can't get enough of their cellphones.

Some people are good at doing a few things at once. But some people can't drive and talk on the phone at the same time. Texting, in my opinion is one of the worst. Not even multi-taskers can do this and drive. They look down one split second and they start coming over a lane or two.

I think the phone makers should put software into the phone that won't allow you to text if the phone sees you are moving (like anything over 5 mph). Technology is there to do that. Yes, I know this eliminates texting completely from anyone in the auto, but something needs to be done. If a passenger needs to text someone, just call them on the phone.

First I'll start off by saying I almost never use my cell while driving. There are a few occasions I do pick up, but those are very few and far between...

As an absolute, texting while driving is stupid and should be banned. There is no excuse or need for it, ever.

I do have a problem with all of these "cell phones cause accidents" claims... Years ago when the first studies came out they finding was it was the *conversation*, not the use of the phone that was problematic. In addition to that, it was found that the effects of the conversion on the driver's abilities lasted for as long as 20 minutes AFTER the call ended.

No on that performed the study, or in the media wanted to say the obvious results from these studies. If you really want to improve safety, ban ALL conversations and other distractions in the vehicle, not just those from cell phones. Yes, that means you can't even talk to the person in the seat next to you.

Anyone think that is realistic?

Ban cell phone use, ban texting, ban GPS use, ban radios, CDs and mp3 players, make seat belt use manditory... There will always be people who ignore these things and make the roads less safe for the rest of us...

Lower the cone of silence.

by that much.

I believe are the hardest hit group. Not because they text more but because they are still learning. The youth of friends in the car, radio blaring, talking and other distractions. While technology continues to evolve, we constantly forget the dangers of one itty bitty distraction that can lead to bigger problems.