• Business & Economy
  • Politics & Government
    • Campaign Countdown
      • 2012 Reports
  • Sports
  • High School Sports
    • Football Friday Night
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • All Topics

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

  • Home
  • Audio Archives
  • Contact Us
  • Reporters
  • Affiliates
  • Affiliate Support
  • PostsComments
You are here: Home / Crime & Courts / Safety officials try to cut texting and driving

Safety officials try to cut texting and driving

April 7, 2012 By Pat Curtis

Texting while driving.

Law enforcement officers in Iowa and around the country are trying to get motorists to focus on driving, rather than their cell phone.

Sergeant Scott Bright, with the Iowa State Patrol, says far too many crashes are happening on Iowa’s roads because people are texting while driving.

“It seems like society is in such a big hurry this day and age. People are trying to catch up with their emails or texting while they’re going down the interstate,” Bright says. “That’s a distracted driver and that’s how the collisions are occurring out there.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Association has designated April as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Despite a law that bans texting while driving, Bright says several people are killed in Iowa every year because of a distracted driver.

“We lose approximately 10 people a year based on a distracted driver out – whether it’s texting on a phone, eating, people reading magazines and people just not paying attention to their driving,” Bright says. Nationwide, nearly 6,000 people are killed every year and a half million more are injured in distracted driving traffic crashes.

A report from the National Safety Council found one out of every four traffic crashes is caused by people talking on cell phones or sending text messages. “We try to educate the public that the number one goal and task at hand when somebody gets behind the wheel is to focus on driving. That’s what they should be focused on, not their cell phone and what’s going on in their car,” Bright says.


Print pagePDF pageEmail page

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Facebook

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Health & Medicine, News

Featured Stories

Appeals Court throws out murder verdict saying jury influenced by social media

Packing 40 years of memories, Iowan heads to Barbara Bush’s funeral

Governor approves new Iowa law on ‘food shaming’ and unpaid school lunch debt

Iowa Senate honors Wally Horn for 46-year legislative career

Clive massage therapist facing sexual assault charges

TwitterFacebook

Former Iowa State coach Earle Bruce dies at 87

Golfers tout economic impact on Iowa

Iowa NASCAR driver pays tribute to hockey team

Morris headlines women’s pole vault at Drake

Brady Ellingson joins Drake

More Sports

Tweets by @RadioIowa

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

RSS O.KayHenderson.com

  • Campaign surrogates: asset or liability? September 22, 2016
  • Proposed slate of 2016 RNC delegates from #IAGOP May 20, 2016
  • AUDIO: #IAGOP chairman talks about idea of ‘brokered’ convention March 18, 2016
  • @TerryBranstad statement on Obama nominating his cousin to SupCo March 16, 2016
  • ‘Substantial growth’ in voter registrations for both parties from #IACaucus March 15, 2016

Archives

Copyright © 2018 · Learfield News & Ag, LLC