U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and Better Business Bureau (BBB) will collaborate to educate consumers and businesses about the dangers of distracted driving.
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The DOT and BBB are calling on businesses nationwide to adopt distracted driving policies as part of their employee culture. A strong distracted driving policy assists companies in saving lives, decreasing time lost from work because of accidents and injuries, reducing insurance premiums, and saving money.
“Distracted driving has become a deadly epidemic on America’s roads,” LaHood said. “We know educating people about the risks of distracted driving works, and we are pleased to be working with BBB to raise awareness and help businesses and consumers fight this problem.”
“BBB is very pleased to help the DOT spread the word about the dangers of distracted driving,” added Stephen Cox, president and CEO of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. “Raising awareness about the dangers of multi-tasking while driving is vital. We are pleased to help promote this good work of the DOT.”
The national BBB website features a link to a free tool kit that provides employers with suggested distracted driving policies to help keep their employees safe. The kit, created by DOT and the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS), contains materials such as a sample company policy, a sample memo to employees on the policy, and a sample company press release.
Additionally, the website features videos from DOT’s “Faces of Distracted Driving” video series. The videos include heartbreaking stories from family members who have lost loved ones due to distracted driving accidents. BBB also provides a link to www.distraction.gov, a complete resource on everything about distracted driving.
Close to 5,500 people in the United States died and nearly 500,000 were injured in accidents related to cases of distracted driving in 2009. Eighteen percent of these fatal accidents involved the use of a cell phone.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s campaign against distracted driving is a multi-modal effort including automobiles, trains, planes, and commercial vehicles. In 2009 President Obama signed an executive order directing federal employees not to engage in text messaging and not to use electronic equipment supplied by the government while driving government-owned vehicles or driving privately-owned vehicles when on official government business.
The order also encourages federal contractors and others doing business with the government to adopt and enforce their own policies banning texting while driving on the job. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) banned commercial truck and bus drivers from texting while driving in September 2010, and proposed a ban on the use of cell phones by commercial drivers in December of that year.
In September 2010, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) proposed a ban on the use of electronic devices by drivers operating a motor vehicle containing hazardous materials, in conjunction with the proposed FMCSA ban.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) banned rail employees from using cell phones or other electronic devices on the job following a September 2008 Metrolink crash in Chatsworth, California that killed 25 people.
After a Northwest flight crew distracted by a laptop overshot their destination by 150 miles, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) advised air carriers to create and enforce policies that limit distractions in the cockpit and keep pilots focused on safely transporting passengers.
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