by Terrence O'Brien on August 4, 2010 at 04:50 PM

In May of 2009, we learned that, despite fully knowing the dangers of doing so, most teens were still driving while texting. A new survey from AAA and Seventeen Magazine shows that, even though awareness has improved, still more teens are engaging in distracting behavior while driving. The study asked 1,999 teens (apparently unable to get just one more kid), ages 16 to 19, about the sorts of ...
by Amar Toor on March 24, 2010 at 02:15 PM

It's pretty much universally acknowledged that driving while texting can lead to highway trouble. But according to USAToday, several cities around the country have now taken legislative action against another more visible, yet strangely less obvious 'distraction': digital billboards.
Earlier this month, Denver joined the growing list of cities that have banned digital billboards altogether, while ...
by Warren Riddle on March 9, 2010 at 11:50 AM

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines....
The cell phone industry hasn't exactly developed a reputation for publicizing the inherent dangers of distracted driving. Proving that "business ethics" isn't an oxymoron, though, AT&T has actually initiated an admirable public campaign called 'Txtng and Drivng... It Can Wait' -- in order to help prevent texting disasters. ...
by JP Mangalindan on January 31, 2010 at 04:01 PM

Given all the fuss over the need for laws banning cell phone use while driving, the latest study from the Highway Loss Data Institute will probably be as much of a shocker to you as it has been to experts. Despite the fact that researchers have found talking on cell phones has the same effect on drivers as alcohol, such laws have apparently had no effect on the number of accidents in New York, ...
by Amar Toor on January 15, 2010 at 07:30 AM

Although driving-while-texting has nearly dethroned smoking as the hottest no-no du jour, several car manufacturers are pushing forward with plans to introduce a whole new distraction. Get ready for Wi-Fi on your dashboard.
At CES this year, Ford unveiled plans to expand its THINK system in collaboration with Microsoft. The expanded setup would entail having Wi-Fi installed directly into a car, ...
by Amar Toor on January 4, 2010 at 09:11 AM

With the new year in full swing, state governments around the country are opening ink wells to pen new legislation that would regulate everything from trans fats to tanning beds. That includes, of course, texting.
So far, only 16 states have outlawed driving while texting, with three more set to follow suit in 2010 (Illinois, New Hampshire, and Oregon). In an attempt to convince the ...
by Warren Riddle on December 8, 2009 at 10:23 AM

It has taken almost 50 years, but it seems that the wireless industry is finally ready to admit that using a cell phone while driving poses a significant threat -- no matter the circumstances. And, more importantly, the industry is not only talking about the problem, but may actually address it, as well.
Since the inception and commercial production of wireless devices, providers and marketing ...
by Warren Riddle on November 28, 2009 at 12:02 PM

The highly publicized dangers of cell phones just continue to multiply. While stories about brain tumors, cancer, and oblivious, phone-happy drivers receive the majority of the publicity, various experts also attest that phone activities can lead to finger deformities, tendinitis, stunted language skills, and bad backs.
The latest dangerous phenomenon may seem ridiculous, but according to Live ...
by Terrence O'Brien on July 31, 2009 at 10:28 AM

You should all be well aware by now that driving and texting is dangerous. In fact, so is talking on the phone while behind the wheel. So what exactly possessed Nicholas Sparks, a 25-year-old tow truck driver from Burt, NY, to do both at the same time? The mind-bogglingly reckless (and inept) multitasker was allegedly texting and talking while towing two cars -- he also had two motorcycles in the ...
by Warren Riddle on July 24, 2009 at 07:27 AM

A recent Harris Interactive poll reveals that the overwhelming majority of U.S. cell phone users have, at some point, witnessed inappropriate public cell phone use. Nearly none of them, however, seem ready to admit that they are guilty themselves. According to Matt Richtel's investigative piece for the New York Times, that same hypocritical obliviousness especially applies to texting and ...
by Caleb Johnson on July 9, 2009 at 09:21 AM

Everyday, people drive with their ears stuck to cell phones or their eyes glancing between text messages and the road. Most never even give their DWT (driving while texting/talking) a second thought. The team behind a new ad campaign hopes to change that. The not-for-profit National Safety Council just launched a Florida billboard campaign called 'Death by Cell Phone.' According to Fort ...
by Terrence O'Brien on June 28, 2009 at 08:39 AM

How many more times do we have to be told that driving while texting is dangerous? We know! Please stop doing studies and surveys. What's that you say, Car And Driver? You've got a video where you put real people behind the wheel of real vehicles, and make them read and fire off messages? Then, you get them them hammered to find out if DWT (driving while texting) is actually as bad as driving ...
by Terrence O'Brien on June 4, 2009 at 06:06 AM

As if the public needed another reason to disapprove of Octomom (because having 14 kids while living in her mother's basement and collecting public assistance wasn't enough), the super-fertile Californian has now become the latest casualty of what seems to be a nationwide crackdown on driving while talking on the phone. Octomom (the subject of the next installment of 'X-Men Origins') was pulled ...
by Evan Shamoon on May 25, 2009 at 09:31 AM

In a scene we're 95-percent sure was ripped out of a movie made in the 1980s starring some combination of Matthew Broderick, Emilio Estevez, and Christina Applegate, a Tampa high school senior went for quite a ride last week. ABC Action News reports that the girl, Katelyn Blaylock, never showed up at school last Wednesday morning. Instead, she was cruising around Tampa in her car and doing a ...
by Terrence O'Brien on May 23, 2009 at 03:27 PM

Another day, another study -- it seems like every time we turn around, there's another body of research revealing that, even though they know it's dangerous, stupid, and should be illegal, teens still text-message while driving. The latest study paints a slightly rosier picture than the last one we saw (which said that 85-percent of teenage girls and almost 60 percent of boys were guilty of ...