Reports say train crash engineer regularly used his mobile

The engineer allegedly responsible for the fatal Los Angeles rail crash on 12th September 2008 was known to regularly use his mobile phone while operating trains, according to reports that quote a lawyer acting for several victims. [Sources: Cellular-News.com; NYTimes.com]

The Key to Safe Driving?

Sounding rather similar to the Aegis Mobility service, Key2SafeDriving is a wireless device designed by the University of Utah that does its best to stop young people from driving while using their mobile phone. The Key2SafeDriving (k2sd) device holds the ignition key and puts the driver's phone into 'Driving Mode' when the key is released for use. This causes the phone to display a 'Stop' message and also prevents the phone from ringing when someone calls. [Press release via Media-Newswire.com]

Hands-free calls in cars add 5 metres to stopping distance

Here's a story that echoes last week's warning about distracting hands-free conversations. Psychology researchers led by Dr Melina Kunar at the University of Warwick have published a research paper that shows mobile phone conversations impair reaction time by an average of 212 milliseconds, which equates to an extra 5.7 metres braking distance for a car travelling at 60 miles an hour. In addition, drivers using their phones suffer 83% more errors than those driving without the distraction of a mobile phone conversation. Listening to a story made very little difference to the test participants' response times or accuracy. [Press release]

5th anniversary of hands-free law marked by RoSPA

RoSPA, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, is reminding motorists about the risks of making a call or texting at the wheel five years after it became illegal to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving. The law was introduced in Britain on 1st December 2003 but casualty statistics reveal there were 25 fatal accidents, 64 serious accidents and 259 other accidents on Britain’s roads last year in which a driver using a mobile phone was recorded as a contributory factor. They also point to research that shows using a mobile phone at the wheel – whether hand-held or hands-free – makes you four times more likely to have an accident. [Press release]

Hands-free conversations are more distracting than talking to passengers

The December issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, which is published by the American Psychological Association, says drivers make more mistakes when talking on a mobile phone than when talking to passengers. The study looked at 41 mostly young adult drivers paired with 41 friends. The results of the experiment, which was conducted using a driving simulator, showed that mobile phone users were more likely to drift in their lane, kept a greater distance between their car and the car in front, and were four times more likely to miss pulling off the highway at the rest area. Passenger conversation barely affected these three measures. In addition, the passengers took an active role in helping the driver, often talking about surrounding traffic. [Press release; PDF of article]

Mobile phones used for traffic monitoring

Nokia and the University of California have just launched the Mobile Millennium project, which combines anonymous GPS information from mobile phones with data from existing traffic sensors. From today, any San Francisco Bay Area resident will be able to automatically submit and receive traffic information between the San Francisco Bay Area and the Lake Tahoe ski area, either on compatible smartphones or iusing a PC browser. [PDF fact sheet]

New mobile service automatically diverts mobiles when driving

Canada's Aegis Mobility has announced that it's entered into a partnership with the USA's Nationwide Insurance, offering drivers a discount if they use the Aegis Mobility's DriveAssist technology. DriveAssist - which is expected to be implemented from next year - uses software on the phone to detect when a phone is in a car that's being driven. It then diverts calls and text messages, while offering an override facility for passengers and emergency calls. [Press release]

Rail crash engineer was texting on duty

The USA's National Transportation Safety Board has issued a new statement about the railway collision in September that killed 25 people and injured 130. As previously suggested, the engineer of the Metrolink train had been sending text messages while on duty (in contravention of his company's policy). The last text message received by the engineer's phone before the accident was at 4:21:03 pm according to the mobile phone company's records, and the last text message sent from the phone was 4:22:01 pm. The accident was estimated to happen at 4:22:23 pm. As a result of these findings, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has said it will issue an emergency order explicitly prohibiting the use of personal electronic devices by railroad employees while operating trains and in other settings. [NTSB press release; FRA press release]

Train engineer was texting before crash

The train engineer involved in the Los Angeles rail crash on 12th September was sending text messages on the day of the accident, according to the US National Transportation Safety Board. It had previously been suggested that his texting may have caused the accident. The company operating the railway, Southern California's Metrolink, prohibits railway workers from using mobile phones while working. A temporary legal ban on personal mobile phone use for railway workers has now been introduced while a permanent ban is currently being proposed. [Sources: NTSB; WashingonPost.com]

Texting while driving slows reactions by over a third

New research for the RAC Foundation says that texting when behind the wheel impairs driving skills more than drinking or using cannabis. The charity used a driving simulator with a group of 17 to 24-year-old motorists. Texting whilst driving caused reaction times to slow by 35%, which was worse than alcohol at the legal limit (12% slower) and driving under the influence of cannabis (21% slower). Steering control was 91% worse, and the ability to maintain a safe following distance also fell. The RAC Foundation says existing laws are adequate but there should be high-profile enforcement. [Press release]

Was texting to blame for rail crash?

There are suggestions that text messaging could have resulted in a Los Angeles train crash that killed 25 people. Two teenage railway enthusiasts have said they were exchanging text messages with the engineer on one of the trains involved shortly before it jumped a red signal and hit a freight train last Friday. Federal investigators have said they'll be checking mobile phone records. [Sources: LAist.com; dailynews.com]

Using a handheld mobile could increase car insurance by 54%

Motorists risk a 54% price rise on their car insurance premiums if they're caught using a handheld mobile phone whilst driving, according to price comparison website moneysupermarket.com. They've surveyed British motorists and found that 30% admit illegally using their mobile phone while driving, with 21% saying they've written or read text messages when behind the wheel. The company says some popular motor insurers won't provide insurance quotes for drivers who've received penalty points for using a mobile, which could mean a 54% increase for a 40-year-old male driver. [Source: MoneyNews.co.uk]

New guidelines for driving offences involving mobiles

The Sentencing Guidelines Council, which issues guidelines to courts in England and Wales, has said that people distracted by a hand-held mobile phone when committing a driving offence should be treated particularly seriously. Its new guidelines state that a driving offence committed whilst reading or composing text messages whilst behind the wheel could result in up to seven years in prison. [PDF press release; PDF guidelines]

Teen Drivers Often Ignore Bans on Using Cellphones and Texting

Teen Drivers Often Ignore Bans on Using Cellphones and Texting. Yes, that’s the headline. No great surprise. Apparently mobile phone use by teenage drivers rose in North Carolina after the state banned drivers aged under 18 from using their mobiles behind the wheel, according to research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the University of North Carolina. However, the drivers themselves said they supported the restrictions, which forbid hand-held and hands-free phone use. Before the ban at the end of 2006, 11% of young drivers were seen to be using their mobiles as they drove away from school or college – but this rose to 12% five months later. In neighbouring South Carolina, where there’s no similar ban, mobile phone use remained at around 13%. [Source: Insurance Journal; University of North Carolina]

Text messaging to any car registration nuumber

A new online service at Txt2reg.com is offering a simple way for mobile phone users to contact a stranger in a car. As the website says: "Ever spotted someone in a car you fancied meeting or chatting to? Our new mobile text service will now give you the chance to contact that person!"

Nick Anderson, whose company runs the website, sees the service as being particularly appealing to young single people. It's only available to drivers who register their car registration number with Txt2reg. Text messages sent to their car registration number are then forwarded to their mobile, keeping the mobile number private. The service costs £1.50 to register and £1.50 to send a message, with no charge to receive messages. [Press release]

Two-thirds of drivers want harsher penalties for breaking hands-free law

A survey by headset manufacturer Jabra says most drivers know it's illegal to use a mobile phone at the wheel and believe the penalties aren't harsh enough. The Jabra research surveyed over 2,000 consumers in Great Britain, revealing 93% of motorists were aware that using a handheld phone while at the wheel without a hands-free kit could be treated as dangerous driving with a potential prison sentence of up to two years. And 68% of motorists thought this penalty should be tougher to encourage more drivers to stop using their handheld at the wheel. Overall, 62% of motorists said they were now using a handsfree solution and 17% said they'd stopped using their mobile when driving. [Press release]

460 drivers caught using mobiles every day

Police figures from 2006 show they caught an average of 460 drivers every day using hand-held mobile phones in the UK. Overall, more than 168,000 people were fined for using a mobile phone when driving, which is a rise of 30% on the previous year. (Figures for 2007 haven't been made available yet). [Source: Telegraph.co.uk]

German truck driver escapes 'driving with a mobile' offence

A German lorry driver has escaped a penalty for driving while holding a mobile phone - because he wasn't making a call, just using it to keep his ear warm. Walter Klein told a court in Hamm that he'd just recharged the phone and was using its warmth to sooth his earache. He produced an itemised telephone bill that showed he hadn't been using the phone when he was stopped by police. [Source: Ananova.com]

Almost half of all UK drivers still texting behind the wheel

A survey of 2,000 Facebook users by the RAC Foundation has found that 45% of UK drivers use text messaging while driving. Texting while driving was found to be highest in London (53%) and lowest in Aberdeen (31%). The RAC Foundation recommends that drivers either mute or switch off their mobiles when driving to take away the temptation to read or reply to a text message whilst on the move. [RAC Foundation blog]