Report: Cellphones cause far more crashes than recorded

[marmar]

(Washington Post) Cellphone use is a factor in far more fatal crashes than anyone realized, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Safety Council.

The council found that even when drivers said they were using their cellphones at the time of a crash that admission was not recorded in accident reports that have been compiled for use in the national debate on distracted driving.

“We believe the number of crashes involving cellphone use is much greater than what is being reported,” said Janet Froetscher, the council’s president. “Many factors, from drivers not admitting cellphone use, to a lack of consistency in crash reports being used to collect data at the scene, make it very challenging to determine an accurate number.”

Researchers reviewed 180 fatal crashes over a three-year period where there was evidence that the driver was using a cellphone. In one of those years, 2011, only 52 percent of the crashes were recorded in the national data base as cellphone-related. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/report-cellphones-cause-far-more-crashes-than-recorded/2013/05/07/c32b56ca-b745-11e2-b94c-b684dda07add_story.html?tid=pm_local_pop

[Robb]

1. My cell phone has never jumped out of my pocket and caused a crash

...Sorry, channeling the Gungeon there for a moment.

[Buzz Clik]

2. See? We're in a cellphone crash culture!!!11

Oops. Wrong forum. Sorry.

[KurtNYC]

3. and they hit you head on because they drift over the centerline

while looking down to text or read text.

By many estimates texting while driving is twice as dangerous as driving drunk. And while drunks will hit you from behind at stoplights or T you while running a red, texters will hit you from the front at full speed.

[HappyMe]

4. I almost got hit by a car yesterday

because the stupid woman was staring down at her damn phone.

[bullwinkle428]

5. Not shocking at all, considering how many are using their "devices" while driving!

80-mile total-distance commute each day, so I know of what I speak!

[marmar]

6. I don't envy you......I was on the freeway for about 20 minutes yesterday. ......

...... And had to dodge no fewer than three texting, cellphone-clutching asshats.

[L0oniX]

7. WP = captain obvious.

[Puzzledtraveller]

8. I'm sure there are many people who when asked

will say they never talk or use a cell phone while driving but do so regularly.

[kentauros]

9. Seeing more and more reports like this on the dangers of using a phone while driving

makes me wonder what a former recruiter thinks of it all. (She yelled at me for having the gall to keep my phone shut off while I was driving. It was more important to her that I be available at all hours in case an employer called than for me to drive safely.)

[MineralMan]

10. Not only do I not use a cell phone while driving,

I also refuse to talk to anyone who is doing so. Including clients. Just yesterday, a client called me about a new project. She was clearly driving and talking on a cell phone. I said, "Please hang up and call me back when you're not driving. It's too dangerous to discuss this right now."

She hung up, and called me back just ten minutes later, after arriving at her office. I just turned in the completed project. Ten minutes. I won't talk to people who are driving.