Many of American companies today are banning the use of cell phones while driving for their employees during work hours. They also are encouraging their employees to carry the practice into their personal driving while not on the job. This is in part because of the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) recommendation back in December 2011 that calls for the District of Columbia and all the states to ban cell phone use while driving.
Owens Corning is one of the companies that have enacted a ban on employees. Since the ban the employees have learned that the world does not shatter, because of a missed phone call and that the employees find different ways to work within the limits of the ban according to Doug Pontsler and Owens Corning vice president in charge of safety, environmental and health at the company.
Shell International back in the later part of the 1990s discovered and there was an increase of not just accidents, but also fatalities among the contractors and employees of its company. This was because of cell phone use while they were driving. In the later part of 2002, a global ban was placed on the use of cell phones while driving and then revamped to ban texting and even the hand-free devices in 2005. Mr. Watson the company’s global road safety manager says this ban is strictly enforced and could mean the employee being dismissed. It has been successful not solely because of the plan, but because training has been included, to help the employees understand how to work with it to still do their jobs. Wrecks are down by approximately 57% through these and other safety measures.
S&ME is another company that enacted a program prohibiting the use of company cell phones while driving personal or company vehicles. The president of the company, Randy Neuhaus, understands how hard it is to quit doing this action, and admitted that even he had trouble at first. Today though, he cannot think of letting it cause a distraction that could cause loss of life.
Federal investigators recommend that all states place bans on use of mobile phones while driving except when necessary in an emergency situation. This is spurred on in part because of fatal crashes like the one a teenager had while texting where the teen received or sent a total of 11 texts in the 11 minutes preceding the wreck. This recommendation even includes hands-free devices. This would go further than what the states have enacted in their new laws.
At present 35 of the 50 states along with the District of Columbia has placed a ban on texting during operating a vehicle. Only 9 of these states have banned the use of hand-held mobile phones. District of Columbia also has this ban in place. However, the bans are not enforced as strongly as they should be.
People in this country would have a hard time with a total ban on using cell phones while driving. These phones are such a part of our daily lives today. However, more and more companies and individuals are becoming aware of the distraction that cell phones are when operating a vehicle.
It is always a good idea to plan ahead so that you will know what to do is you have an auto accident. One way of doing this is to establish a relationship with a car accident lawyer. This can save lots of grief in the future.
According to www.shoalslawyers.com – Just After an Auto Accident Follow This List
• Don’t drive away after being involved in an auto accident. There are serious consequences that could follow.
• Keep your cool so that you will be able to handle deal with everything that takes place next, and to keep everyone else calm.
• Make sure that all passengers involved in the accident are safe and check for injuries that may require immediate emergency services. Call 911 if you are unsure.
• Make sure that oncoming cars are aware of the accident by turning on your hazard lights or by setting out flares to mark where it is safe for them to drive.
• Move your car out of the way if there are no serious injuries to allow for traffic flow to continue.
If there was another car involved in the auto accident, be sure to exchange information with them and call the police if the damages were greater than $500. Don’t leave the scene until you have obtained the following.
• Contact information for the other driver including name and telephone number.
• Driver’s license number.
• Vehicle identification number (VIN) of the other vehicle.
• Since the owner of the vehicle could be different from the driver’s, get their name and address as well.
• Name, address and telephone number of the insurance company and the policy number for the other vehicle.
This information can be found on the insurance card that should be in the vehicle. If you are unable to obtain this information, be sure to take down the tag number of the vehicle. Read More
The FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) issued a report stating that a driver looks away from the road for about 4.6 seconds on average to receive or send a single text message. To give a visual to this, think about driving blindfolded across an entire football field from goal post to goal post at expressway speeds. What is the comparison facts about texting and driving compared to the drunk driving? We turn to the Car and Driver magazine’s experts to learn more about these facts.
Almost every morning when I’m driving into work someone is tailgating and flying in and out of cars to get ahead. To those that are compelled to do this to hurry the rest of us up; my observation over several years: After 3-5 miles of travel your car is still right next to mine at the stop light.
Since you really aren’t making up for not leaving the house on time; slow down, enjoy the ride, and get there at the same time as you would while driving crazy and potentially causing an accident
Here is a story of a student who had a wreck while texting that he needs to stop texting while driving. Harsh lesson. Full story The drives’ dad sadi, ” if he had a child just learning to drive, he would disable texting and Internet on their phone.” Great idea! Avoid car and truck injuries! For other information on texting, driving, and injury law.
Despite the fact that liability coverage is a legal requirement in almost all states, people continue to operate motor vehicles every day on public roads without insurance. If you are involved in a car wreck with someone who was operating without insurance, your medical bills, property damage and pain and suffering could go unpaid unless you were covered by uninsured motorist coverage. Even if you were not seriously injured in the auto accident, property damage and medical bills can add up quickly — particularly if they are out of pocket expenses.
When most people purchase car insurance, they focus on what the state minimum is, or on how much they think they should purchase to cover any injuries to other people in the event they are negligent in an auto accident. While this should certainly be a consideration, care should also be taken to include uninsured motorist coverage in the event the other person is negligent and operating without liability coverage.
As a general rule, if the other driver is negligent in a car wreck, he or she is responsible for paying your medical bills, property damage and possibly pain and suffering. If he or she is insured by liability coverage then the driver’s insurance company will cover the payment. If, however, the driver did not have any liability coverage, your only option may be to file a lawsuit against the driver if you were not covered by uninsured motorist coverage. Although you may easily win the lawsuit, collecting on the judgment may prove fruitless.
If, on the other hand, you were covered by uninsured motorist coverage, then your own insurance company will pay for your damages based on your policy coverage. The insurance company may, or may not, choose to pursue litigation against the negligent driver. In the meantime, however, your injuries are covered and you do not have to worry about the often lengthy and costly process of filing a lawsuit against the driver.