THE 50 STATES and the District of Columbia should ban drivers’ use of portable electronic devices, from mobile phones to iPads and other portable electronic devices, the National Transportation Safety Board recommends.The ban would exempt phones and other PEDs used for emergencies, and PEDs designed to support the driving task. NTSB also urges states to use NHTSA’s model of “high visibility enforcement”to support the bans. The board’s recommendation, approved unanimously, followed an investigation into a 2010 Gray Summit, Missouri, collision involving a deadhead Volvo tractor truck, a GMC Sierra, and two school buses.
The NTSB says the driver ofthe Sierra sent and received 11 text messages in the 11 minutes before the crash, the last ofwhich came umoments before the pickup crashed into the Volvo truck. There were two fatalities and 35 injuries from the crash. NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman says more than 3000 people were killed due to such distraction-related accidents in 2010.”No call, no text, no update is worth a human life A potential solution is to install proximity sensors in cars that would allow passengers, but not the driver, to receive phone and Internet signals.
Cadillac’s new CUE system, launching in the ‘13 XTS, can be programmed to allow the front-seat passenger, but not the driver, to operate the nav system while the car is in motion.(LATEST CAR NEWS)
