Distracted Driving
Streetsblog Basics
UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED: NYS Is About to Make it Even Easier for Untrained Drivers to Get Licenses
State lawmakers are making it easier for bad drivers to get licenses by allowing student drivers to take a questionable online safety course rather than the previously mandated five-hour, instructor-taught classroom session.
August 23, 2019
Op-Ed: What To Do With the ‘Devil Wagon’
It's simple: Kill cars now, says one of our favorite bike tour guides.
June 11, 2019
Mayor de Blasio Isn’t Perfect on Talking the Vision Zero Talk — Or Walking the Walk
Mayor de Blasio remains under fire for not walking the Vision Zero walk anymore — but on Friday, he showed he can't even fully talk the talk.
May 31, 2019
CYCLE OF RAGE: NYPD is Not Doing Enough to Crack Down on Cabbies on their Phones
Uber and Lyft basically require cabbies to be on their phones all day — so why isn't the NYPD battling this known safety scourge?
November 19, 2018
Oregon DOT Challenges Drivers to Avoid Using Their Phones Behind the Wheel
The state is promoting an app that turns the act of driving without distraction into a competition.
August 2, 2017
We Have the Tech to Stop Distracted Driving. But Do We Have the Will?
What is stopping us from implementing solutions to prevent distracted driving? We have the technology. The problem is, the smartphone industry doesn't want to use it.
April 19, 2017
The Human Toll of Normalizing Distracted Driving
Nowhere is the culture of permissiveness more apparent, or deadly, than in Texas, where about 3,500 people lose their lives in traffic every year. It is one of just four states that doesn't ban texting and driving.
April 19, 2017
Study: Drivers With Smart Phones Use Them Almost Every Time They Drive
Motorists with smart phones use their devices in 88 out of every 100 trips, according to data collected by Zendrive, a company that assesses driving behavior using the sensors in smart phones. Extrapolating to the entire population, Zendrive estimates there are about 600 million trips involving distracted driving in the U.S. each day.
April 17, 2017
Judge Bars Woman Who Killed Cyclist From Driving in NY, No Thanks to NYPD
When Caitlin Venedam struck and killed Matthew Brenner on Sands Street on July 6, 2014, NYPD blamed Brenner and let Venedam off without so much as a ticket. Now, thanks to evidence that police failed to collect, an administrative law judge with the Department of Motor Vehicles has barred Venedam from driving in New York state, according to DNAinfo.
August 18, 2016
AAA: Distracted Driving Now Standard in New Cars, Thanks to In-Dash Devices
Distracted driving isn't just about texting -- it's the mental effort of multi-tasking that makes people less alert and more dangerous behind the wheel. As hands-free devices like in-dash, voice-activated computer systems proliferate in new-model cars, they create additional risks. Using these devices can cause lingering distractions for up to 27 seconds after the task is completed, according to new research from AAA [PDF].
October 29, 2015