PC Magazine Oprah Winfrey has been urging her viewers to promise not to text or make telephone calls while driving. Last Friday she dedicated her show to the subject. Some 23 states, including Tennessee, have laws banning texting while driving. Eight other states have partial bans on texting while driving. …
Truck drivers who text while on the road are now violating federal law. On January 26, 2010, the federal Transportation Department said it is prohibiting truck and bus drivers from sending text messages on hand-held devices while operating commercial vehicles. Tennessee banned texting while driving effective July 1, 2009. The Transportation…
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has set up a website called "Distraction.Gov." The website reveals some interesting statistics: In 2008, there were a total of 34,017 fatal crashes in which 37,261 individuals were killed. In 2008, 5,870 people were killed in crashes involving driver distraction (16% of total fatalities).…
The National Safety Counsel announced yesterday that it estimates at least 28% of all traffic crashes – or at least 1.6 million crashes each year – are caused by drivers using cell phones and texting. From the organization’s press release: The estimate of 25% of all crashes — or 1.4 million…
The United States Department of Transportation has adopted the Motorcoach Safety Action Plan following an analysis of safety data. DOT has identified seven priority action items that will have the greatest impact on reducing motorcoach crashes, fatalities and injuries. The items include the following: Rulemaking concerning electronic on-board recording devices…
This is the sixth in a series of posts concerning changes in Tennessee statutory law that I believe to be of interest to tort lawyers. For more changes click on the Legislation 2009 category of this blog. Public Chapter 201 prohibits, subject to certain exceptions, the reading or sending of text…
Texting while driving is now illegal in Tennessee, and a study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute reaffirms why the law is necessary. For truck drivers, the risk of a crash or near-crash event increases by a 23.2 times as compared with non-distracted driving. Read the entire study here. UPDATE: …