Eyes on the Road

We all do our best to be good drivers, but the cell phone screams at us from the passenger seat and it is tempting to pick it up and respond. Be careful! Let it ring until you can pull over to pick it up; besides, the Kansas government may be giving you a new reason to ignore your phone. The Kansas Senate is currently working a bill, Senate Substitute for House Bill 2437, which would prohibit text messaging while driving a motor vehicle. Many other states have either introduced or passed bills on the same subject with intention of reducing the number of distracted-while-driving accidents.

You can find the full text of Senate Substitute for House Bill 2437 at http://www.kslegislature.org/
Click on "full text of bills" from the menu along the top of the page, then type in 2437.

You can find a list of states that either ban or limit cell phone use or texting while driving at:
List from the National Conference of State Legislatures
http://www.ncsl.org/?tabid=17057

List from the Governors Highway Safety Association
http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has banned texting while driving for school bus drivers and commercial truckers:
http://www.distraction.gov/files/dot/MotorCarrierPressRelease.pdf

Secretary LaHood has instituted a non-profit organization to raise awareness of the problems derived from distracted driving:
http://www.distraction.gov/files/press-release/dot0410508forweb.pdf

Learn more about the facts and figures regarding distracted driving:
http://www.distraction.gov/stats-and-facts/

A study at Virginia Tech Transportation Institute funded by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration produced a report that has the most recent stats and figures:
http://www.access.vtti.vt.edu/PDFs/100CarDriverInattention.pdf

If you text, you are 23.2 times higher a risk for a crash or near-crash than non-distracted driving. So do yourself a favor: put your phone in the glove box or your purse until you get to your destination!