Tag: laws

Report: NHTSA updating motorcycle helmet laws

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety, Motorcycle

novelty helmet

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has updated the motorcycle helmet law in an attempt to stop people from wearing improperly certified helmets and novelty helmets. The law doesn’t change the construction of helmets directly, but changes the way they’re labeled, to make it more difficult to mimic DOT compliance certifications.

Now, helmets that conform to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 218 will carry a sticker with the manufacturer’s name, the helmet model and the words “DOT FMVSS No. 218 Certified.” The move to make helmets safer comes after the number of riders sporting unsafe and novelty brain buckets increased dramatically in 2010 over 2009.

According to NHTSA statistics, in 2010, only 54 percent of motorcyclists wore a DOT-approved lid. Around 14 percent wore a novelty helmet, and 32 percent went without a helmet altogether. In 2009, those numbers were 67 percent, 9 percent and 24 percent. In 2010, 75 percent of riders who did elect to wear a helmet wore a DOT-compliant one. In 2009, that number was 86 percent.

NHTSA updating motorcycle helmet laws originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 15 May 2011 14:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IIHS: New texting laws aren’t reducing accidents

Filed under: Etc., Safety, Technology, By the Numbers

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has just released new findings related to texting-while-driving laws and their effectiveness – the results of which are quite surprising. The Highway Loss Data Institute, an affiliate of the IIHS, compiled claim data for four states; California, Louisiana, Minnesota and Washington. Each state has enacted a ban on texting while driving, and this study examines data for the months before and after the laws went into effect. Earlier this year, the HLDI released data relating to the banning of hand-held cell phones and how those laws had zero effect on crash rates. Its new research refines that study to show that texting bans have produced a more alarming result. In three of the four states examined, crashes increased by three to four percent after the laws were enabled.

Adrian Lund, President of the IIHS and the HLDI, believes the laws do not take into account the overall problem of driving while distracted but merely focus on one aspect of it. Lund states people texted before the laws came into effect and they’re likely doing so after. Drivers may now be texting in ways so as not to get caught doing do, such as lowering their phones and thus drawing their eyes down away from the road. Lund also states that he knows texting while driving is dangerous and there is a crash risk associated with it, but the bans are clearly not reducing that risk.

Not everyone agrees with the IIHS study, however. AAA released a statement today that states, “It is not realistic to expect that simply enacting a law to ban texting while driving will have a large, immediate impact on crash totals in a state in the first months.” The release goes on to add that in addition to laws, public outreach, high-visibility enforcement, substantial penalties and, most importantly, adequate time are needed before a positive effect can be seen. In other words, holds your horses, IIHS. Likewise, The Detroit News D.C. Bureau Chief David Strickland reported live via Twitter from a Senate Commerce meeting today that National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief David Strickland said he has questions about the IIHS study and that NHTSA still wants to get at the worst kinds of distracted driving, not just texting, adding that a bee or insect in the car has been shown to be the most dangerous kind.

So are drivers in these states merely making texting while driving more dangerous by lowering their phones out of view? The IIHS research indicates this might be the case, or the uptick in accidents might just be a correlation and not causal. Either way, automakers are developing more complex systems to take these tasks out of the equation eventually. The Ford Sync system and the upcoming UVO unit from Kia will answer and read your texts for you. OnStar is also working on a way to integrate Facebook into GM vehicles. These ideas sound silly but they may help reduce our need to grab that phone so we can keep our eyes on the road.

Full release available after the jump.

[Source: IIHS | Image: Getty]

Continue reading IIHS: New texting laws aren’t reducing accidents

IIHS: New texting laws aren’t reducing accidents originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Laws: Commercial truck and bus drivers banned from texting while driving

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety

Ray Lahood mimics phone

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration claims that in 2009 alone, 5,500 fatalities and half a million injuries occurred as a direct result of distracted driving. The problem is so severe that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (above) recently felt compelled to address Autoblog readers directly in an effort to spread the word about how dangerous it is to multitask while driving.

The Department of Transportation isn’t resting its hopes on Autoblog, though. The DoT has initiated the second National Distracted Driving Summit this week to shine light on the problem, and the government’s latest offensive isn’t going out to texting teens or phone-obsessed commuters. The early pressure is on drivers transporting hazardous materials, commercial truck and bus drivers and rail operators. LaHood opened this week’s summit by talking up new laws that ban commercial bus and truck drivers from texting and driving, while train operators can no longer legally use cell phones or other electronic devices from the driver’s seat. Companies are also getting in on the act, as 1,600 corporations have banned distracted driving, affecting 10.5 million drivers. Another 500 companies will reportedly follow suit in the next year.

Beyond new laws covering commercial drivers, LaHood and friends are also touting the results of heavily increased enforcement. In Hartford, Connecticut 4,956 tickets have been passed out to texting or talking drivers. Syracuse, New York police have issued another 4,446 citations. We usually get anything but excited when hearing about increased tickets and fines, but the results of the texting and talking crackdown are difficult to ignore. The DoT press release after the jump tells us that surveys and observations claim that phone usage is down 56 percent in Hartford and 38 percent in Syracuse. Further, texting is down 68 percent and 42 percent, respectively. Hit the jump to read over the press release.

[Source: Department of Transportation | Image: AP]

Continue reading New Laws: Commercial truck and bus drivers banned from texting while driving

New Laws: Commercial truck and bus drivers banned from texting while driving originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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