The Transportation Department and the nonprofit National Safety Council just announced the formation of FocusDriven, an organization intent on educating consumers about the dangers of driving while
talking or texting on a cellphone. According to The Times' Bits blog, the group evolved out of a distracted driving summit that the Transportation Department held late last year.
The
federal government has estimated that in 2007, 11% of drivers were talking on a cellphone -- a figure safety advocates assert has no doubt grown. Researchers, meanwhile, say that drivers using a
cellphone are four times likelier to get into a crash. Makers of in-car communications systems claim that such diminish significantly when people use hands-free devices, while research indicates that
conversations remain distracting nonetheless.
Read the whole story at Bits Blog »