genec

Accidental deaths in the United States reach record high in 2014 | NH Voice

Flat out, this is why no one can specifically cite whether a collision is due to cell phone use or not, in spite of the fact that multiple studies cite cell phone use while driving as very distracting...

Be careful out there my friends.

andr0id

Austin passed a no hand held devices while driving law.

So now, people hide their phones in their laps and drive down the road with their heads down. I'm not sure that's an improvement over holding them at the top of the steering wheel and at least having some peripheral vision.

dynodonn 

The vehicle death rate decrease over the years is mainly due to the increased safety features in US motor vehicles, as time goes on, the older vehicles are scrapped and replaced with the newer vehicles that have the added safety features.
Recently, one local motorist died instantly when their early 80's vehicle hit head on with another motorist's newer vehicle, and with the motorist of the newer vehicle basically walking away from the collision with minor injuries.

canklecat

Yeah, I've ridden with people who mount their smart phones on their dash, but still look at it constantly rather than the road. Even when they use voice navigation they still fiddle with their phones.

I don't get it. They're defeating the purpose of a smart phone. Heck, more than 10 years ago my cheapest Virgin Mobile cell phone had hands-free voice activation so I didn't need to touch the phone to make or accept calls. It was a big help when I had to drive up to 100 miles a day while looking after my grandmother during her hospitalization, tending to her distant rural home, and staying in touch with many family members. I usually avoided taking or making calls while driving around the city, but routinely did that stuff away from town on the long rural highway stretches.

I do see some cyclists and joggers on the MUP using Bluetooth devices for hands-free operation of their smart phones, which they mount on the bike or wear on their shoulders or waists. It seems safer, but they also seem distracted, so it's hard to say whether hands-free operation is safe for everyone.

canklecat

Yup, I'm betting the well designed crumple zones of my compact Sunfire saved my life, and my grandkids, when an SUV driver ran a light and t-boned us at 50 mph. I was astonished by how the little car crumpled like an accordion while protecting the passenger compartment. The engine was almost in my lap, but my knees were only bruised. Biggest injuries I experienced were several cracked vertebrae from the whiplash impact, including a permanently splintered C2. But it could have been far worse in an older model vehicle.

JoeyBike

Duly noted and done. Now I spend a lot less time "out there" due to phone use behind the wheel.

Yep. As much as I hate cell phone use behind the wheel, I have always been AGAINST laws that try to stop it. Think of those phone users as heroin addicts. What does the law do for heroin users? It drives them into the shadows and helps prevent them from getting any help. Laws DO NOT prevent people from using heroin.

Cell phone abuse is an addiction plain and simple. You can find a thousand sources online to back this up. Lets keep the danged phones on top of the steering wheel so the driver has a freaking CHANCE of seeing me. If someone gets in an accident while on the phone - and there are ways to track this - they should get a DUI plain and simple.

dynodonn 

Though I've posted this video a couple of times already, it's still a great example of why the death rate in US motor vehicle collisions has decreased for motorists and their passengers, even with many more miles driven.

CliffordK

There is some correlation between accident rates and fuel prices.

With rapidly dropping fuel prices, the accident rates go up.

no motor?

I was just thinking of this video, thanks for posting it.

italktocats

you can find 'research' for and against anything nowawday

italktocats

chevvy just sucks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6prtCtxk1ho

B. Carfree

However, since 2015 saw a large increase in roadway deaths, to over 38,000, and 2016 is on its way to surpass 40,000 roadway deaths, we may have reached the end of the road for the ability of air bags, crumple zones, mandatory seat belts and such to reduce the CARnage. The past two years have seen increases in roadway deaths of 14% and then over 20% in my state.

I suspect we won't see another significant decrease in roadway deaths until and unless autonomous driving cars get on the road in substantial numbers. Even a couple per cent of these would calm traffic and save lives.

genec

Nah, they won't look at you... they WILL however see you as you pass over the hood.

What we really have to do is make cell phone use while driving an incredibly painful experience... most likely in a monetary way... such that cities see a chance for huge revenue streams if they enforce the laws...

Or we have to make phones smart enough to know when someone is driving and have that individual phone become inactive... in such a way as to not impinge on the use of phones by others in the vehicle.

ypsetihw

smart phones all have GPS or at least cell tower tracking these days. why not create a feature that locks the phone when it senses that you are moving over say 15mph or something? it would be super easy, and it is obvious nobody cares about the law or safety, so I don't see drivers putting down their phones unless they are forced to do so.

genec

That would disable any phone in any moving location, such as a train or bus or even the passenger seat of a car... no, the "feature" has to be smarter than that.

Paul Barnard

This really needs to be done. At least disable the text and surfing functions after a certain speed. While talking hands free is a distractor it's much more manageable than texting and surfing. The argument that people on buses or trains or passengers can't use them is a weak argument relative to the gains implementing such regulation would achieve. If you simply must communicate while moving, call. If you must work while moving, get a laptop or notebook.

KBentley57

There are probably more people that commute by public transport, per day, in NYC, than drive in the state of Alabama. How do you propose selling your idea to all those people?

italktocats

well lets ban phones then, i mean, if freedom and personal choice are already out the window, why do you need to be mobile

Paul Barnard

What is it that they need to do that they couldn't do if smart phones couldn't text or surf the net while moving?

Paul Barnard

That seems a little extreme to me. I am all for freedom and personal choice until your freedom and personal choices creates a substantial danger to me.

KBentley57

It's not for you or anyone else that decides what another person "needs" to do, I can appreciate the urge for more safety, but not at the expense of the invasion into personal choice.

FBinNY 

It's hard to tease many meaningful conclusions out of the data. Some like the increase in drug overdoses may be closely related to increases in drug use, but for most of the other data, there are too many factors at play.

As noted by others here, the decline in auto related deaths can be attributed to improvements in auto safety systems, changes in the fleet mix, decline in driving miles due to fuel costs, and in the other direction (maybe) to increases in distracted driving. In short there are too many variables. In short, there are too many variables, and not enough controls to be sure of anything.

Another factor may be demographics and an aging of the US population. That means fewer drivers in the peak auto accident ages, and more in the accidental fall age brackets.

So, we can debate the issue of cell phone use until the cows come home, but the numbers don't prove anything there either way.

However, that doesn't mean bicyclists can relax. Whether it's cell phones, kids in the car, a crying baby in the back seat, worrying about work or finances, lost and trying to figure out where they are, etc., there have always been and always will be distracted drivers, so we need to be aware of what's going on around us.

JoeyBike

I am running a 300+lumen Dinotte rear flashing light and a 500+ flashing front light BY DAY. They can see me from the space station. Trust me that motorists with their phones on top of the steering wheel WILL see me and ARE seeing me. I keep an eye on my mirror when cars are approaching and I can actually SEE the instant they "wake up" and pull left. It happens roughly 100ft back minimum.

It's hard to win an argument with someone who has actual EXPERIENCE.

genec

My experience is that people holding phones right to their ears (not hidden) can run right off the road... They can be blind to even the most obvious things