Thanks, again, to Matt Richtel for the excellent reporting on the dangers of driving while talking. Yesterday, the second-in-two-days Page One headline in The New York Times: "Driven to Distraction: US Withheld Data on Risks of Distracted Driving."
I don't need to go into more detail than this: The US government has had the data proving that it's extremely dangerous--akin to being drunk--to yabber on the phone while driving since 2003. Hands free or not. Makes no difference.
Richtel has done a superb job of following the timeline, putting together the salient facts, and pointing fingers in the right direction.
We all have stories to tell about the risks; I've been posting mine as regular readers know. And I've come to the sorry conclusion that the person who sideswiped me in Brooklyn last week was likely on the phone.
Here are a few blood-boiling paragraphs from Richtel's fury-maker:
The former head of the highway safety agency said he was urged to withhold the research to avoid antagonizing members of Congress who had warned the agency to stick to its mission of gathering safety data but not to lobby states.
Critics say that rationale and the failure of the Transportation Department, which oversees the highway agency, to more vigorously pursue distracted driving has cost lives and allowed to blossom a culture of behind-the-wheel multitasking.
“We’re looking at a problem that could be as bad as drunk driving, and the government has covered it up,” said Clarence Ditlow, director of the Center for Auto Safety.
It took filing under the Freedom of Information Act, by the way, to force the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to release the report.
Now I'm asking readers to leave a comment if you've given up the deadly habit.
