Hands Free Info

Channel Description:

Latest Articles in this Channel:

12/02/11--03:30: N.Y. texting law no turkey (chan 1646900)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s state police feasted on text-messaging violations over the Thanksgiving holiday, handing out 816 tickets. “The more than 800 tickets issued in just five days further demonstrates the need for these stricter laws which focus on drivers who put others at risk by illegally using a hand-held device,” the New York governor said [...]


12/05/11--04:44: Calif. safety enemy No. 1: cell phones (chan 1646900)

Cell phone use while driving has become the No. 1 safety problem on California roads and highways, a new survey of state motorists says. Close behind came texting while driving. Combined, cell phoning and text messaging drew almost 40 percent of the responses. Both problems individually outweighed last year’s main concern, “speeding and aggressive driving,” [...]


12/08/11--12:22: 3,092 die in distraction crashes (chan 1646900)

The good news is good indeed: In 2010, U.S. traffic fatalities and injuries reached their lowest numbers since 1949. Another reason for optimism, it might seem: 3,092 people died in accidents connected with distracted driving, down significantly from 2009′s 5,474 fatalities. But the bad news lurks in the detail, as the National Highway Traffic Safety [...]


12/13/11--16:16: NTSB seeks total cell phone ban (chan 1646900)

Horrified by the findings of its probe of a fatal text messaging crash, the NTSB has come out in favor of a nationwide ban on the use of portable handheld electronic devices by drivers. “It is time for all of us to stand up for safety by turning off electronic devices when driving,” NTSB chairman [...]


12/15/11--18:18: ‘It’s time’: Ban all cell phone use by drivers (chan 1646900)

Someone had to go first. The National Transportation Safety Board just jumped through the burning hoop, and the national debate over electronic distracted driving abruptly shifted to discussion of a complete ban on cell phones and similar devices. About time. Proponents and foes of laws against distracted driving agree, oddly enough, that the watery prohibitions [...]


12/23/11--02:15: LaHood: No blanket cell phone ban (chan 1646900)

DOT chief Roy LaHood says his war on distracted driving won’t lead to a full ban on handheld electronics. “The problem is not hands-free,” LaHood said at a DOT news conference Dec. 21. “That is not the big problem (with distracted drivers).” LaHood was publicly distancing himself from the National Transportation Safety Board’s Dec. 13 [...]


12/28/11--07:30: Distracted driving year in review (chan 1646900)

The debate over distracted driving burned hotter than ever as 2011 ended, thanks to a controversial call for a total ban of cell phone use while behind the wheel. The year saw significant progress in the legislative war on against distracted driving. While some state laws prohibiting use of handheld cell phones took effect, most [...]


01/05/12--20:50: Alaska texting law gets a rewrite (chan 1646900)

A pair of state representatives plan to refile Alaska’s text messaging law to ensure its intent is clear to the courts. Reps. Les Gara and Bill Thomas said they’re filing bipartisan legislation that would remove any doubt that texting and driving is illegal in Alaska. The ambiguous wording of Alaska’s 2008 prohibition on texting & [...]


01/10/12--01:29: Truckers: Why no public cell ban? (chan 1646900)

The federal government says truck drivers can’t talk on handheld cell phones. Fair enough, the pros say — but what about the “four wheelers” who cause most of the wrecks involving trucks? A week after that federal ban on handheld cell phone use went into effect, the trucking industry seems to have the issue in [...]


01/23/12--17:26: Stick shifts slowing distracted teens (chan 1646900)

Stick shifts aren’t extinct — it just seems that way — and concerns over teen safety may be helping the manual transmission systems make a mini-comeback. A Northern California TV station reports that some area parents are buying their teenagers vehicles with stick shifts in order to keep the kids’ hands off cell phones. Sacramento [...]