Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI Personal Injury Blog

According to Fox News, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - the main federal agency charged with keeping our highways safe - reports that in 2011, more than 3,000 people died in distracted-driving crashes.

It is common knowledge that people are getting into car accidents because of distracted driving while using technology. In an effort to curb the negative impact of technology use on road safety, a few states ban all use of hand-held mobile phones behind the wheel, and more than half ban texting while driving.

However, dashboard technology is exploding, with more and more computerized and Internet tasking available at the push of a button or even by voice activation. What about the danger of a driver distracted by trying to browse the Web on the dashboard while trying to negotiate rush-hour traffic?

Wisconsin legislators jumped on the bandwagon this month by passing a law that would prohibit younger drivers from using cell phones while driving. Any parent of teenagers can tell you that kids use cell phones a lot more often than most adults.

Distracted driving is a national concern, especially in this era of rampant cell phone use. The headlines are constantly full of news about various state and federal authorities taking steps to control and sometimes criminalize mobile phone use while behind the wheel in an effort to prevent car accidents.

A recently published study in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal from a Long Island hospital highlights the motivation a little encouragement can engender. In an effort to increase patient safety and reduce instances of medical negligence, hospital officials set out to encourage their ICU staff to wash their hands more often. Initially, officials placed cameras at every hand-washing station and monitored staff washing their hands as they entered and left the ICU for 16 weeks. Staff members were aware of the cameras, but no personal information was collected.

However, the cameras were not enough; diligence in staff washing their hands only increased by approximately six percent with the cameras in place. So officials got a little more creative. They decided to post signs outside the ICU that lit up with messages like "Great Shift" based on the compliance rates for hand-washing. The higher the rate of compliance, the more encouraging the message.

According to a new government study, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not have the resources to spot issues regarding high-tech electronic systems that are becoming more and more common in today's vehicles.

The study urged the NHTSA to improve its technological capabilities and called on the administration to retain a panel to assist in evaluating potential problems regarding high-tech systems that, like adaptive cruise control-an advanced cruise control system that can prevent car accidents by automatically adjusting the car's speed to maintain a safe following distance.

The popularity of computerized devices creates significant challenges for the NHTSA. According to Louis Lanzerotti, a physics professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, "the agency needs to plan for the future of electronics in vehicles."

Earlier this month, Representative John Mica of Florida introduced a new highway bill in the House. The bill is intended to compel changes to the hours of service rule, or the number of hours a truck driver can drive per day. If passed, it would require the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to reword the current 34-hour restart specification. Under this provision, the restart is limited to once per week, allowing for two sleeping periods.

The new bill requires that the agency perform a field study of the proposed provision to be completed by March 2013. If supported by the study, the rule would take effect on schedule three months later. However, if unsupported by the study, the agency would be required to modify the rule and the current restart rule would stay in place during that process.

It takes more than laws to change dangerous behavior such as drunk driving or texting while driving. Aggressive enforcement of those laws is also needed. And so is a change in the culture that produces the dangerous behavior in the first place.

That is why federal and state safety officials are finally trying to tackle car accidents caused by distracted driving by seeking to develop a comprehensive strategy against it. The strategy is designed to include elements of law enforcement as well as public education on the dangers of distracted driving.

Wisconsin is one of 34 states with laws against texting while driving. The law has been on the books for nearly a year now.

As important as these laws are in discouraging and punishing distracted driving, they have to be supplemented by aggressive public awareness campaign. To truly change behavior and reduce distracted driving crashes, people have to be shown how unacceptable - and how dangerous - multi-tasking behind the wheel really is.

Teen drivers need to be taught better. Passing laws against texting while driving and other dangerous behaviors is important. But so is teaching teens right - right from the start.

This means that modeling safe driving has to start with parents. It must include basics like keeping your hand on the wheel and your eyes on the road, not on an electronic device. Being sober and alert, not tipsy or fatigued, is vital as well.

Learning the importance of these things can't wait until drivers' education. And it will help prevent car accidents in Wisconsin and across the country.

Once teens do start driver training, it's important for parents to sit down with them and establish the ground rules or guidelines for driving. These guidelines should start with wearing a seat belt. They should also include such things as limits on number of passengers, a curfew, and restrictions on the use of cell phones while driving.

The Labor Day weekend offers a chance to savor the summer before the school year begins. But it's also one of the riskiest times to be on the road. The danger of drunk driving accidents is substantial.

How dangerous do the roads get on this long weekend? Data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit group supported by the insurance industry, puts September 2 as second behind only July 4 for motor vehicle deaths in a single day.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is trying to help Wisconsin and other states make driving safer on the Labor Day weekend by operating a nationwide program called Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over." The goal is simple: to get drunk drivers off the road and therefore prevent car accidents.

The program began on August 19 and runs through September 5. It involves over 10,000 law enforcement agencies around the country. The Department of Transportation is partnering with these agencies on an advertising campaign intended to deter drunk drivers by making them more aware of the possibility of arrest.