CanTruckDriversUseCellPhonesDismissing the Risks of a Deadly Habit Multitasking on the Road. A 2. 00. 3 Harvard study estimated that cellphone distractions caused 2,6. Yet Americans have largely ignored that research. Instead, they increasingly use phones, navigation devices and even laptops to turn their cars into mobile offices, chat rooms and entertainment centers, making roads more dangerous. A disconnect between perception and reality worsens the problem. New studies show that drivers overestimate their own ability to safely multitask, even as they worry about the dangers of others doing it. Device makers and auto companies acknowledge the risks of multitasking behind the wheel, but they aggressively develop and market gadgets that cause distractions. Can Truck Drivers Use Cell Phones' title='Can Truck Drivers Use Cell Phones' />Driving safely should be your number one concern behind the wheel. Learn these safe driving topics and tips to use to ensure you know how to drive safely. State Effective Restriction Penalty Other details Source Alabama August 1, 2012 Ban on all cell phone use handheld and handsfree for novice drivers. Police in almost half of all states make no attempt to gather data on the problem. They are not required to ask drivers who cause accidents whether they were distracted by a phone or other device. Learn how to track phone calls using the Easy Logger with its simple and easy steps. Easy Logger phone tracker app is designed to be used by anybody and everybody. Buy and sell electronics, cars, fashion apparel, collectibles, sporting goods, digital cameras, baby items, coupons, and everything else on eBay, the worlds online. Even when officers do ask, some drivers are not forthcoming. The federal government warns against talking on a cellphone while driving, but no state legislature has banned it. This year, state legislators introduced about 1. Five states and the District of Columbia require drivers who talk on cellphones to use hands free devices, but research shows that using headsets can be as dangerous as holding a phone because the conversation distracts drivers from focusing on the road. Fourteen states have passed measures to ban texting while driving, and the New York State Assembly sent such a bill to the governor on Friday. The states that rejected any efforts to limit distracted driving this year include Oklahoma. Im on the phone from when I leave the Capitol to when I get home, and thats a two hour drive, said Tad Jones, the majority floor leader in the Oklahoma House, who helped block the legislation. A lot of people who travel are used to using the phone. Scientists who study distracted driving say they understand the frustrations of colleagues who publicized the dangers of tobacco. Like cigarettes, they say, gadgets are considered cool but can be deadly. And the big device companies even offer warnings that remind them of labels on cigarette packs. Verizon Wireless, for instance, posts instructions on its Web sites not to talk while driving with or without a headset. But neither Verizon nor any other cellphone company supports legislation that bans drivers from talking on the phone. And the wireless industry does not conduct research on the dangers, saying that is not its responsibility. Some researchers say that sufficient evidence exists to justify laws outlawing cellphone use for drivers and they suggest using technology to enforce them by disabling a drivers phone. Just outlawing the behavior cannot possibly go very far toward getting people not to do it, said Robert D. Rimsko Pravo Knjiga. Foss, senior research scientist at the Highway Safety Research Center at the University of North Carolina. The behavior is too ingrained and compelling. For his part, Mr. Hill rarely talks when he drives now. His mother gave him a hands free headset two months after the accident. She thought it would create less distraction. He tried it once, and found his mind wandering into his phone call so much that I nearly missed a light, he said. Photo. Researchers at the University of Utah ask volunteers like Anne Mc. Laren to use a cellphone in a driving simulator. Jogada Siri Belakinalli. Talking didnt cause a problem, but while texting she hit another car. Credit. Jeffrey D. Allred for The New York Times He pleaded guilty to negligent homicide, a misdemeanor, for the death of Ms. Doyle. Now, when he is a passenger in a car, it makes him nervous when the driver starts talking on the phone. But Mr. Hill, who is polite and deferential, said he doesnt want to badger drivers about the risks. I hope they dont have to go through what I did to realize its a problem, he added. Dangerous Overconfidence. Sgt. Matthew Downing, a tough talking 1. Oklahoma City police force, drives a car with no lights on the roof. That way, drivers are less likely to notice him as he waits for speeders. Increasingly, he sees erratic behavior swerving across lanes, running red lights that looks just like drunken driving. Instead, he sees drivers talking on their phones, or texting. A ton of people pass me literally unaware of their surroundings, he said. Sergeant Downing, who often handles traffic fatalities, arrived at the scene of Mr. Telecharger Les Chevaliers Du Zodiaque Le Sanctuaire Santa Monica. Hills crash after paramedics had extracted Ms. Doyle, who was 6. He found Mr. Hill sitting on a fire truck, acting hysterical. There was no mystery about the accidents cause the roads were dry. He told me he was talking on the phone and didnt see the light, Sergeant Downing said. Hes a nice kid, he said of Mr. Hill. But he said he felt angry, both at Mr. Hill and at what he sees as an epidemic of multitasking on the road. Driving and talking are automatic, he said. Over all, cellphone use has soared. From 1. 99. 5 to 2. United States increased eightfold, to 2. Last year, the federal agency dealing with road safety, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, published a study, based on researchers observations of drivers, suggesting that at any time during daylight hours in 2. And in a survey of 1,5. Nationwide Mutual Insurance, 8. But 4. 5 percent said they had been hit or nearly hit by a driver talking on a phone. When we ask people to identify the most dangerous distraction on the highway today, about half correctly identify cellphones, said Bill Windsor, associate vice president for safety at Nationwide. But they think others are dangerous, not themselves. He and others who favor restrictions say drivers regularly make what amount to ill informed analyses of cost benefit tradeoffs, often deciding that the value of constant communication outweighs any risks. Seven years ago, when cellphones and services like texting were less common, federal researchers estimated that drivers using cellphones caused about 1,0. In 2. 00. 7, drunken driving caused 1. By other measures, American roads are becoming safer. According to the highway safety agency, the number of driving fatalities has remained around 4. Americans drove less. From 1. 99. 7 to 2. There are more drivers, more talking drivers, said John Walls, spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association. If its so risky, then logically one would think there would be more accidents. The association, a trade group, fought rules to ban phone use while driving until January, when it shifted to a neutral position on the issue. I wouldnt say, Talk on the phone more and have fewer accidents,  Mr. Walls added. Im just saying, How does this square Some scientists say this argument is flawed. Weve spent billions on air bags, antilock brakes, better steering, safer cars and roads, but the number of fatalities has remained constant, said David Strayer, a psychology professor at the University of Utah and a leading researcher in the field of distracted driving. Our return on investment for those billions is zero, he added. And thats because were using devices in our cars. Better data would help settle the debate. But 2. 1 states do not include a box on accident forms for police to mark electronic devices as a cause. Those that now account for it started doing so only recently. Mr. Windsor of Nationwide Mutual said that such data, while valuable, would greatly underestimate the problem because it relies on driver confessions.