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Photo of car accident courtesy carcrashesdotcom
Driving while dialing and driving while texting is more dangerous than you knew. A federal report proves it, with some really scary numbers that show it is as dumb and deadly as drunk driving and DUI, driving under the influence.
At least as bad, maybe worse -- the New York Times reports in a front page story that federal officials have sat on this information since 2003. They were afraid Congress might get angry at their guts and initiative.
The agency in question is the National Highway Traffic Safety Council, which issues safety regulations. NHTSA is agency that orders the recall of your car, SUV, truck or motorcycle for some safety defect. Maybe Congress should act, and take the word 'safety' out of their name.
The blockbuster report is being released today, July 21, 2009. But it took legal action to get it made public --under a Freedom of Information Act intiative by two non-government consumer groups, Public Citizen and the Center for Auto Safety. Public Citizen was founded by Ralph Nader -- whose 1965 book "Unsafe at Any Speed" blew the wheels off the lack of safety in Detroit. That was when the Chevrolet Corvair and Ford Pinto were catching on fire and Firestone 500 tire was blowing out.
- See these other Green Car Examiner articles for more on the dangers of distracted driving:
- Texting while driving: OMG that's deadly dumb, not LOL
- Road safety awareness day: put away the Starbucks, hang up the cellphone.
The secret 266-page NHTSA report shows that as far back as 2002, there were nearly 1,000 deaths and 240,000 accidents caused by drivers distracted by cellphones. In 2002! Before everybody had a cellphone, iPhone or BlackBerry, before we could Twitter while driving. And the secret report shows that NHTSA wanted to initiate an official study proving the dangers of DWD, even before there was DWT. But they didn't.
So instead of losing a few jobs, we've probably lost hundreds of lives, injured thousands of people, and cost millions of dollars in car insurance and hotpisal insurance bills.
So a slime green slam on NHTSA. And thanks, once again, Ralph Nader of Public Citizen, Clarence Ditlow of Center for Auto Safety, and the New Yor Times and reporter Matt Richtel, for this important investigative effort.
As Ditlow told the New York Times, "no public health and safety agency should allow its research to be suppressed for political reasons."
Comments
Seems that was the way of the previous administration, climate change, cellphone use and who knows what else. Corporations 1 public 0. There is a related post at iamsoannoyed.com/?page_id=588
Unfortunately, the American people behave at times like a bunch of two year olds.
But I want it.
Because it's my right.
Blah, blah, blah.
Rights and responsibilities go hand in hand. Most everyone exercises the former, but not everyone exercises the latter.
Hi Evylyn:
If you choose to reference a book that sites potential safety concerns in automobiles, perhaps it might be worth while to read it first. The threat of engine fires on the Corvair is unfounded as suggested above. It is a matter of record that a Congressional committee found that if the proper tire inflation pressure on the car was used, it was as safe as any other car produced at that time. Mr. Nadar's criticism centered on the rear engine design that was used in combination with a swing axel rear suspension from 1960-1964. Nothing on fires here just a lot of smoke. The irony was that when the book was published in 1965, GM had attended to the suspension issue with a redesign in the 1965 model year. But alas poorly researched articles such as yours continue to make the car an affordable collector which is just fine with me.
For accurate information on the Corvair please visit www.corvair.org
Regards, Garth Stapon
New Milford, CT
Garth, I appreciate your comment about the Corvair, but don't agree -- because --
In the 70s, I was riding in a Corvair that caught fire while we were driving, and we barely had time to pull over and get out in time. The car was owned and lovingly maintained by a friend with a graduate degree in mechanical engineering, so I'm pretty sure he was using the proper tire inflation.
We owe a huge debt to Ralph Nader. Whether or not you agree with what he wrote about the Corvair, or with his recent presidential politics, Nader started the consumer movement that helped push Detroit to build safer more reliable cars -- and also the imports which have to meet the same US safety standards.
For whatever it's worth, that ride in that Corvair turned me from a general news reporter into an automotive journalist.
Garth,
By completely redesigning the suspension of the Corvair in 1965, many view the change as an admission by GM that Nader was right and the Corvair design was very deficient.
Throw in chronic oil leakage, carbon monoxide and noxious gases leaking into the passenger compartment, hydrogen emissions from battery overcharging, and oh yeah the Corvair is a real gem.
Ed Cole championed the Corvair, and he was the chief engineer of the Chevy Vega.
However, were there any observations on the topic of cellphone use while driving, or is that just another myth perpetuated by Ralph Nader?
Corvair, any year, piece of junk. I would never own one, even as a collector's item.
Corvair lovers could spend all day long picking nits with Nader's book. Whatever !!!
The fact remeains- Nader brought attention to auto safety into public consciousness when no one was paying attention at all. The only thing the public was looking for was the next, as Ralph so aptly describes them, "psycho-sexual dreamboat." Ralph did not stop either and quickly moved ahead into other areas of the consumer safety - clean air, clean water, meat labeling, drug labeling, seat belts, air bags, etc... The list is very long. The American public owes Mr. Nader a debt of gratitude for all he's done in the way of consumer safety.
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