States Fighting Urge to Text and Drive | OAS Episode 41




NCSL Podcasts show

Summary: Since the relative recent invention of texting, drivers have been tempted to check their phones. And pretty much at the same time, states have been looking at ways to temper that urge. There are a number of challenges to effectively enforce distracted driving laws. Drivers find loopholes that give motorists a number of plausible excuses for holding or manipulating a mobile device. And no state or locality can afford a patrol to watch every driver on every road. Still, an estimated 40,000 people die each year in traffic crashes. Our guests will provide the statistics and tell us what states are doing to drive that number down. And we’ll look at a program in Tennessee that literally has drivers and the media talking. Our guests are: Liza Lemaster-Sandback, highway safety specialist, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Lieutenant Bill Miller, public Information officer, Tennessee Highway Patrol Additional Resources Transcription of Episode 41