School Transportation News Magazine | September 2009
[Headlines] Released NHTSA Documents on Cell Phones
‘Ancient History,’ According to Agency It seemed part of a dramatic movie
plot line when readers first heard of an
“unreleased” document from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concerning the dangers of handheld and hands-free cell phone use. After a Free- dom of Information Act (FOIA) request and a year-long wait, the Center for Auto Safety published “Status Summary: Using Wireless Communication Devices While Driving,” an internal NHTSA report that discusses the dangers associated with cell phone use while driving, even when using a hands-free device. But, according to NHTSA Spokesper-
son Rae Tyson, it is all “ancient history.” “Tese are things that took place during
the early days of the Bush Administration,” said Tyson. “Tere was a growing concern of potential hazards related to cell phone
use. Te administrator at the time asked for a compilation of information on the is- sue so he could look at what the research community knew about the risks of cell phone use. It was a bibliography of re- search by others.” Te 266-page report includes an abun-
dant amount of non-NHTSA research on the issue and offers the conclusion that,
“there are negligible differences in safety- relevant behavior and performance be- tween using hand-held and hands-free communication devices while driving… the experimental data reveal observable degradations in driver behavior and per- formance and changes in risk-taking and decision-making behaviors when using both hand-held and hands-free mobile phones, and the nature of those degra- dations and changes are symptomatic of
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potential safety-related problems.” For Clarence Ditlow, executive director
of the Center for Auto Safety, this trans- lates into the realization that using either option while driving is “as bad as drinking and driving.” Te CAS, founded in 1970 by Ralph Nader and the Consumers Union, put in the initial FOIA request about a year ago after reading an article on the report in the Los Angeles Times. “Our main effort was to publicize the
problem, but we’re going to go back to NHTSA and ask for more action,” said Ditlow. “In 2003, NHTSA was ready to go with a full-blown program plan against talking and driving and they killed it.” After the recent introduction of the
Avoiding Life-Endangering and Reckless Texting by Drivers Act, or ALERT Drivers Act, a bill that would ban all cell phone or mobile device texting by motorists, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood an- nounced an upcoming summit this month in Washington that will focus on the dan- gers of distracted driving. But, according to Tyson, NHTSA has never been silent on the subject. From 1996 until 2001, it pioneered research along with the University of Iowa on the National Advanced Driving Simula- tor to address the issue of whether or not there was any appreciable difference in risk between handheld and hands-free use. “We also worked with Virginia Tech on the
largest study of its kind that had ever been attempted — 100 vehicles instrumented for a year to assess the impact of distraction under real-world conditions,” added Tyson.
“[CAS] sought internal documents that had not been released. Tat does not presume that any of them had any validity.“ n
For a state-by-state guide on cell
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phone driving laws, visit the Governors Highway Safety Association Web site at
www.stnonline.com/go/273. You can also review the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety’s 2009 Traffic Safety Culture Index at
www.stnonline.com/go/274. To read the “Status Summary: Using Wireless Com- munication Devices While Driving,” visit
www.stnonline.com/go/275.
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