In its Position Statement on Distracted Driving in Motor Vehicles, ASSE calls on its members and other safety professionals to:

• encourage and support employer rules banning any employee use of electronic devices while driving
• support proposed public laws and regulations that effectively limit the use of electronic devices while driving, and
• back improved driver education that includes the risks of distracted driving and ways to avoid such risks.

ASSE’s views about distracted driving aren’t limited to cell phone use. It says, “The same safety risks posed by cellular phones also hold true for a vehicle operator who drives in an unsafe manner while eating, drinking, putting on makeup, reading a newspaper, operating any other electronic device, or some other type of distracting activity where the driver’s mind, eyes, and hands are engaged elsewhere than the road ahead and the steering wheel.”

ASSE cites various studies to make its point that distracted driving isn’t limited to electronic device use.

A Carnegie Mellon University study shows brain power used while driving decreases by 40% when a driver listens to conversation or music. A Nationwide Mutual Insurance study found 80% of drivers admit to blatantly hazardous behavior including changing clothes, steering with a foot, painting nails and shaving.

Does your company have a policy on employees and distracted driving? Do you think it’s a good idea to support laws banning use of cell phones while driving? Should those bans also cover other types of distracted driving? What are some examples you’ve seen of distracted driving? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

The town of Gwent police department made the video last summer. It starts with a multi-vehicle crash caused by a young woman who was texting while driving. The first four minutes have turned up on YouTube. (Warning: The video is very violent.)

The driver is the only survivor in her car. Two of her friends die in the crash.

The video shows much more than the crash and its immediate aftermath. It also shows the future: the aftershocks that change the lives of the young survivor and her family.

In an interview with CBS News, the video’s writer and director, Peter Watkins, said, “Yes it is violent, but the reality of a fatal road accident is much more gruesome, is much more violent. My position is that if you are old enough to drive, you are old enough to want to drive, you are old enough to be aware of the real and serious risks one places yourself in every time you get behind the wheel.”

Gwent police chief constable Mick Giannasi said, “We have had e-mail after e-mail from people saying, ‘I will never ever text and drive again’ — from young people.”

Watch the video via the link above. Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below. Or, take our poll about this subject on the SafetyNewsAlert.com home page.

If you’d like more information about this video, send an e-mail to: corporate.communications@gwent.pnn.police.uk