AAA Aims to Ban Texting While Driving, Across America
Texting is at an all time high and the wireless telecommunications association, CTIA, claims that 110 billion text messages are sent each month. Recent research shows that approximately 1 in 5 U.S. drivers admit to texting while operating a vehicle in the last 30 days. In an effort to improve roadway safety across America, the AAA and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety are working to ban all texting (and emailing) while driving in each state by 2013.
Robert L. Darbelnet, AAA President and CEO, claims “The new technologies that help us multitask in our everyday lives and increasingly popular social media sites present a hard-to-resist challenge to the typically safe driver. Enacting texting bans for drivers in all 50 states can halt the spread of this dangerous practice among motorists nationwide, and is a key legislative priority for AAA in state capitols.”
As of now, there are 18 states along with Washington, D.C. that have laws regulating texting while driving for all drivers, while Maine and Iowa prohibit only teens from texting behind the wheel. California has recently enacted a texting while driving ban and the Auto Club of Southern California has issued studies showing that since the ban in January, texting while driving has decreased by 70 percent.
The AAA wants the rest of the nation to follow suit and is encouraging people to take part in Heads-Up Driving Week October 5-11. AAA President and CEO Peter Kissinger said, “We are asking everyone to rethink their driving behavior and take the first step toward becoming distraction-free by trying it for a week and then doing it for life.” Drivers can visit AAAFoundation.org to sign a pledge committing to distraction-free driving as well as read tips on eliminating distractions in vehicles.
Category: web 2.0 | Tags: AAA, AAA Initiative to Ban Texting While Driving, CTIA, no texting while driving, texting, texting while driving
About the Author Jabari Johnson is an entertainment & music journalist. He is a graduate of Howard University and has interviewed some of today’s biggest celebrities including 50 Cent, Lupe Fiasco, Russell Simmons, Soulja Boy and many more. Jabari's interviews have been seen over 1.5 million times online and have lead to him hosting events for Rock The Vote, The Washington Mystics, and Howard University.
Follow @Jabari on Twitter and visit his website IAmJabari.com.
See all posts by Jabari Johnson.
I tried many texting apps in the last few months, and I sincerely believe that Text'nDrive is better product for professionals on the road than the one mentioned in a previous comment. It reads your emails and lets you reply in a second. Plus, I think they’re doing a great job with their site that keeps us informed on the latest texting laws in the U.S. and Canada (http://www.textndrive.com/textingwhiledriving.php). A great innovation!
I drive without losing concentration, safe driving is better than texting. It is easy to read incoming text messages and respond with autoresponder while driving. I use http://www.drivesafe.ly/ mobile application
I drive without losing concentration, safe driving is better than texting. It is easy to read incoming text messages and respond with autoresponder while driving. I use http://www.drivesafe.ly/ mobile application
Charles,
Thanks for the link, I signed up for the beta. Looking forward to seeing what it is like!
I recently came across a blog post in consumer reports about a new free mobile phone application to help combat distracted driving called DriveSafe.ly that reads your texts and emails to you while you are driving.
It looked pretty interesting so I tried it. I have a BlackBerry and it has really helped me when I’m on the road because it keeps me from texting while driving. It works through my Bluetooth and it can actually send an auto-response to the sender. I’ve had some fun with customizing the auto-response messages. I’m not that technical but it’s easy to use. I recommend people checking out http://www.DriveSafel.y.