Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Panel Ponders Perils Of Texting, Driving

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday that his agency wants to play an active role in encouraging technologies that can reduce injuries and loss of life due to distracted driving. The Commission is examining whether there are ways in which it can act to create a climate that will allow consumers and industry to have more options in addressing the problem, he said.

Genachowski said he wants the FCC to set a good example and recently reinforced to agency employees the importance of complying with President Obama's recent executive order that banned the use of federal devices to text while driving. The order also prohibited the use of personal devices while driving government vehicles.

During his testimony, the FCC chief emphasized personal responsibility as well as input from companies in the wireless space and government. "Everyone involved can and should take appropriate action, with the goal of dramatically reducing and ultimately eliminating the risk of distracted driving due to the use of communications devices," he said. "We should develop a cultural norm that driving while texting is totally unacceptable."

The wireless sector has made strong first efforts to raise public awareness, Genachowski said, pointing to an "On the Road, Off the Phone" campaign by CTIA and the National Safety Council. The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau has also issued a consumer advisory, launched a Web site, and is now preparing a broader educational effort to target distracted driving, he added.

"Texting takes your eyes off the road -- long enough at high speeds to travel the length of a football field," Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller pointed out in a statement. "Cars and trucks with a distracted driver are deadly weapons and we have a responsibility to get them off the road. Several states already have taken action. But not enough states have done the right thing." He and several others have introduced legislation to curb texting and cell phone use while driving.

Commerce ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison rejected calls by some who have pushed for specific mandates on states. "We can better accomplish these goals through incentives to individual states rather than heavy handed mandates from the federal government," she said in a statement. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., sponsored a separate measure that asks states to ban texting while driving or risk losing a quarter of their annual federal highway funding.