Distracted While Driving - the New DUI

by Marjorie, Cars for Keeps Social Media Manager

It's an issue my dad, a former driver's education teacher, championed years ago during his teaching years. "One of the most dangerous types of people on the road is the person who's distracted by their cell phone behind the wheel," he would say, emphasizing that this rule applies to everyone - teenage drivers to soccer moms. "When I see someone in their minivan completely absorbed in their phone while going down the road, I steer clear of them."

The truth is that most of us are guilty of what safety activist groups and legislative groups have dubbed "DWD", or "Distracted While Driving". Answering and making calls while driving has been a mild concern for several years, but the growing popularity of texting has brought this issue to the forefront - particularly among young drivers.

A government report from 2008 states that 515,000 people were injured and 5,870 people were killed in crashes involving "distracted drivers". Additionally, the report indicated that 16% of all fatal crashes in 2008 involved driver distraction; this percentage involved a high number of young drivers.

What does this mean for us? Well, DWD is no longer just an indicator of the technological divide between the younger driving generation and the older; it's become a matter of public safety, and state legislative groups have been treating it as such. Nineteen states have already banned text messaging while driving, and six states (as well as DC) have banned cell phone use while driving altogether. City council members in Ann Arbor are working on ban on cell phone use during driving, and Michigan's House of Representatives passed a bill late in 2009 which would allow police to ticket text-messaging drivers. Non-governmental organizations are considering non-legislative options, such as integrating Blackberry and PDA software with programming that would prevent their users from receiving or sending texts and calls while on the road.

Regardless of what measures our legislators and PDA software engineers take against DWD, it's an issue all drivers should become more aware of - both for ourselves and for instructing younger drivers.

What do you think about this issue? Should texting while driving be banned, all cell phone use while driving, or neither? Now is the time to contact your state legislatures if you'd like to have a say in this issue. Follow this link to learn more about Ann Arbor's City Council in their fight against DWD, or read what Nationwide Insurance has to say about the issue.

This video compares the effects of driving over the legal alcohol limit to DWD with some surprising conclusions.

Tell us what you think!