Add to del.icio.us     Digg this

Oct. 19, 2009

Here's something that many of us have suspected for a long time but just weren't sure about it...

According to a new report on teen driving habits conducted by Vlingo, no less than 60 percent of teenagers admit to reading and responding to various text messages while driving.

The description here of "teens" are new and relatively inexperienced drivers who tend to have a much higher accident rate than that of older, more experienced drivers.

The report also suggests that teens are also at a greater heightened risk of distracted driving caused by text messaging, something that dosen't surprise anybody.

But some teens are somewhat supportive of a ban on text messaging. Sixty-two percent of teens support texting while driving illegal.

But if a hands-free solution is available such as Bluetooth, only 34 percent favor making texting while driving illegal.

Additionally, about 91.2 percent of all teens surveyed would use a hands-free technology to handle text and e-mail messages by voice if it was available they said.

Recently, President Barack Obama said he wants to propose new legislation that would ban texting for bus and truck drivers.

Additionally, transportation secretary Ray LaHood said Obama's administration would move to put severe restrictions on mobile phone used by most rail operators, truck drivers and interstate bus drivers even in some emergencies related to the nature of their work.

LaHood said President Obama signed an executive order banning all federal workers from texting while driving on government business, driving government vehicles or using any government equipment.

The Obama administration also will push to disqualify school bus drivers who are convicted of texting while driving from keeping their commercial driver's licenses.

"It is our strong responsibility to look into innovative solutions that embrace these consumer usage trends to make the roads safer," said Dave Grannan, CEO of Vlingo, in a statement. Vlingo specializes in voice-recognition technology for mobile handsets.

The issue of texting while driving has come to national attention after a series of high-profile accidents were caused by the practice. The Senate is currently considering a bill that would require all states to ban texting while driving or risk losing federal highway funds just weeks after a distracted driving summit hosted by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The Vlingo study was based on a survey of almost 5,000 U.S. residents over the age of 13, which was matched to U.S. Census proportions on gender, age and ethnicity.

It also included about one-hundred respondents from each of the 48 contiguous U.S. states.

All respondents were screened for mobile phone ownership and usage. The report was conducted by an independent research firm and has a statistical accuracy of plus or minus 1.4 percent overall.

Back in 2006, U.S. safety investigators told federal regulators that it was dangerous for bus drivers to talk on mobile phones while driving and recommended a complete ban.

Recently, the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) put that same recommendation on its list of most important safety measures. Industry and safety groups had no objections with that.

But yet the regulatory agency that is charged of implementing new rules on cell phone usage by commercial drivers, the FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) has done little more than just study the issue.

And now more than three years later, there's still no ban on the use of cell phones by bus drivers, and that irritates more than one federal investigator.

Add to del.icio.us     Digg this

    This article was featured on Business 5.0 and on Tech Blog.

Source: Vlingo.