driving

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Only Fines Will Get Drivers Off the Phone: Experts

Conference tells Transportation Department to get tough

(Newser) - If the Department of Transportation wants to curb distracted driving, it’ll have to do more than ask nicely, concluded experts at last week’s conference on the issue. Previous efforts to curb drunk driving and promote seat belt safety have proven that drivers don’t respond without the threat...

Federal Workers Banned From Texting While Driving

Executive order is part of larger push against distracted driving

(Newser) - Federal employees are now forbidden from sending text messages while driving on government business or operating government vehicles. The new executive order, signed by President Obama last night, also encourages executive agencies to adopt texting bans for contractors, reports ABC. "To put it plainly, distracted driving is a menace...

90% Want to Outlaw Texting While Driving: Poll

Younger Americans slightly more tolerant, but 83% still in favor of ban

(Newser) - An overwhelming majority of Americans think texting while driving is such a bad idea it should be outlawed. A new poll finds that 90% of us support a ban; the most contrary demographic is, rather unsurprisingly, young'uns aged 18 to 29—though a robust 83% are in favor of a...

Truckers Fight to Keep Computers in Cabs

As ban on texting while driving gains grounds, drivers want an exception

(Newser) - With Congress considering legislation to ban text messaging while driving, the trucking industry is fighting to keep its in-cab computers. Truckers use the machines to get directions and talk to dispatchers without having to pull over, saving them precious time on long hauls. The industry says the devices are less...

Traffic Tweets Send Mixed Messages
Traffic Tweets Send Mixed Messages
Sep 19, 2009 7:38 AM CDT

Traffic Tweets Send Mixed Messages

States send updates, but prohibit drivers from reading them

(Newser) - Safety experts complain that states are undermining their own no-texting-while-driving laws by offering motorists constant Twitter updates on traffic conditions, the AP reports. At least 22 states with laws that essentially ban drivers from using smartphones and similar devices behind the wheel provide such information, and, in some cases, readily...

Experts Doubt Gory Crash Video Will Trim Teen Texting

(Newser) - A horrifying car crash video graphically highlighting the gory dangers of texting behind the wheel has been viewed some 4 million times online. But experts doubt that it will significantly change teen driver behavior, reports the New York Times. The video-gone-viral has been the buzz of schools since it was...

Lessons From a Cuban Roadtrip
 Lessons From 
 a Cuban Roadtrip 
OPINION
Aug 2, 2009 4:21 PM CDT

Lessons From a Cuban Roadtrip

(Newser) - NPR reporter Jason Beaubien didn’t plan to drive across Cuba, but it did provide an apt look at the many problems the island faces. The “Spanish phrase ‘No hay,’ meaning ‘there's no fill-in-the-blank,’ was a constant refrain on this trip,” he reports. The...

US Squelched Data on Car Phone Danger

(Newser) - In 2003 a federal agency compiled hundreds of pages of research on the dangers of using cell phones while driving, but suppressed the findings because of pressure from Congress. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a part of the Transportation Department, also planned a long-term study of the risks of...

Hybrid Owners Have More Accidents, Get More Tickets

Environmentally-conscious motorists also drive more, study says

(Newser) - Owners of hybrid vehicles tend to drive more, have higher repair bills, and get more tickets than their gas-guzzling counterparts, the Car Connection reports. A study of the behavior of 360,000 motorists found insurers pay 17% more for comprehensive coverage of hybrid owners compared to owners of conventional models....

Your GPS Is Probably Evil
 Your GPS Is Probably Evil 
OPINION
Jul 11, 2009 8:34 AM CDT

Your GPS Is Probably Evil

(Newser) - Emily Yoffe is typically a technophobe, but she also has a horrible sense of direction, so she had high hopes for her GPS. “This seemed like a breakthrough that promised only upside,” she writes in the Washington Post. Then she used it. In harrowing trip after harrowing trip,...

Next Recession Victim: Highway Rest Stops

Drivers left crossing their legs as states close pit stops to save cash

(Newser) - The pit stops along American highways are starting to go the way of the Pony Express as states slash their budgets, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some states argue that the mushrooming of gas stations and motels at interstate exits make the rest stops obsolete, but American Automobile Association officials...

Levy on Driving Gains Speed as Gas-Tax Replacement

(Newser) - As the US moves away from a gasoline-only auto culture, researchers and the government are investigating alternative taxes to fund road-building and maintenance, the Kansas City Star reports. The leading idea to supplant the gas tax is a by-the-mile approach endorsed by a federal commission. “If you’re committed...

Finland, Land of the $200K Speeding Ticket

(Newser) - If you think that pricey speeding ticket is unfair, just look at Finland, where fines are based on income. Mental Floss takes a look at five doozies:
  • In 2002, a Nokia exec on a Harley got hit with a whopping $103,600 fine for cruising at 47mph in a 31mph
...

NYC Ranks No. 1 in Road Rage
 NYC Ranks No. 1 
 in Road Rage 
Jun 16, 2009 10:23 AM CDT

NYC Ranks No. 1 in Road Rage

City's drivers are angriest in the US

(Newser) - New York drivers are the most aggressive and angry in the US, an annual road rage survey finds. Gotham cut off Miami, which had zoomed to the top of the list the past 4 years, Reuters reports. "New Yorkers were most likely to wave their fists or arms,"...

Insurer Sees Games as Boost for Old Brains

'Mental fitness' software improves reaction time, peripheral vision

(Newser) - An experiment by Allstate Insurance and a San Francisco software startup that aims to use computer games to improve the mental health of all ages is getting good reviews, the Chronicle reports, including from one local who says improved reaction time and peripheral vision saved him from an accident. “...

1 in 5 Drivers Would Flunk Test: Survey

(Newser) - An annual survey of driver smarts is out, and the coasts fare poorly, the Los Angeles Times reports. Conducted by GMAC, the survey posed questions from US drivers license tests and found that 20% of current drivers would fail a written exam. New York ranked dead last and California 48th,...

DMVs: Please Stop Smiling
 DMVs: Please Stop Smiling 
May 26, 2009 5:12 PM CDT

DMVs: Please Stop Smiling

(Newser) - Four states are demanding that motorists stop saying cheese when they get their driver's license photo, and more may follow suit, reports USA Today. It's not the grinch patrol. Smiles can interfere with technology used to make sure people don't apply for illegal licenses, say officials in Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada,...

Are Americans Falling Out of Love With Cars?
Are Americans Falling Out of Love With Cars?
ANALYSIS
May 6, 2009 4:58 PM CDT

Are Americans Falling Out of Love With Cars?

Drop in driving could be delayed reaction to gas prices—or not: Silver

(Newser) - Is the fact that Americans are driving less even after the cost of gas has come down a sign that US attitudes are changing, Nate Silver asks in Esquire—or is it just another example of how slowly they respond to changes in fuel prices? “The real test,”...

Forget Hybrids: Just Drive Like Your Grandma

Americans can save gas just by driving differently: Ball

(Newser) - Driving like a grandma can save more gas than fancy hybrid technology, Jeffrey Ball writes in the Wall Street Journal. Accelerating slowly, shifting gears early, and coasting to avoid stop-and-go driving can bump gas efficiency of even the largest gas guzzlers. The catch? "I've been honked at. I've been...

Italian Going 168mph Gets 4 Tickets in 1 Hour

(Newser) - What's Italian for "leadfoot"? A Milanese man going 168mph was busted on four separate highway cameras in less than hour, ANSA reports. He was driving for his employer, whose lawyers argue that he should be responsible for just one infraction. They said they also plan to cite a...

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