Subject: [NEXTEL-1] NHTSA analyzes cell-phone use during car crashes

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 15:16:14 -0500

NHTSA analyzes cell-phone use during car crashes
By JEFFREY SILVA
October 28 12:20:00, 2003

WASHINGTON—The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said a report is
under review that estimates fatalities
and car crashes from 2000 to 2002 caused by driver cell-phone use, possibly
providing a better picture of the distracted-driving problem in the United States.

However, NHTSA head Jeffrey Runge, in a Sept. 22 letter to National Transportation
Safety Board Chairman Ellen Engleman, noted “that the data that form the basis for
this analysis is not available for distractions other than cell phones … and
therefore it is “not possible to gauge the magnitude of other distractions at this
time.”

Runge also told Engleman distracted-driving studies currently under way should be
completed in spring 2004 and 2006, with results to be sent to Congress and the
states. New York and some towns ban talking on handheld phones while driving,
while other states are considering similar restrictions.

Runge said NHTSA is working with public-relations giant Ogilvy PR to better
educate teens about the risks of distracted driving.

Runge’s letter came in response to NTSB recommendations following the latter’s
investigation of a Maryland highway accident in 2002 caused by a driver on a cell
phone in which five people were killed. NTSB said cell-phone use contributed to
the crash, but driving inexperience and other factors likely play roles as well.

http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=15676

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