OUR VIEW: Distracted driving leading to more dangerous roads
Editor’s note: We are sharing an editorial published this week in our sister publication The Decatur Daily. The focus is on distracted driving as deaths from vehicle accidents continue to rise, along with efforts by the state legislature to further restrict cell phone use while driving. I would add that reckless speed and aggressive driving is also a main culprit. The Madison and Huntsville areas have seen a drastic increase in population over recent years that has led to crowded roadways that were not originally designed to handle that much traffic. Improvements are being made to our infrastructure, but they cannot keep up with the steady growth rate of motorists on our roads. Frustration naturally arises among many drivers, but we all need to remember to slow down, be patient and drive defensively. Just last night, our area suffered another fatality along I-565. Too many people are losing their lives just trying to get from one place to another.
After a brief decline during the COVID pandemic, when more people stayed off the nation’s roads, highway deaths are again on the rise.
On Monday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released its final statistics for 2021, which showed a more than 10.5% increase in deaths over 2020 — the highest number since 2005 and the largest percentage increase since 1975, although the latter number can be taken with an asterisk because of the COVID-related decline the previous year.
Deaths were up across categories: Speeding-related deaths increased 7.9%, deaths involving large trucks weighing over 10,000 pounds were up 17%. Fatal crashes involving at least one distracted driver rose 12% — a total of 3,522 people killed, which the NTSB says is likely a low number.
Why is it low? Because law enforcement has a difficult time determining if a driver was distracted.
Drivers can be distracted by anything, from an eye-catching billboard to a field of cows to the increasingly complex set of instruments in the car dashboard, which no longer includes just an air conditioner and radio to adjust. But Public Enemy No. 1 when it comes to distracted driving is mobile phones.
Texting and driving is currently banned under Alabama law, just as in most other states. A bill that passed a state House committee last week, however, would take that further.
House Bill 8, sponsored by Rep. Randy Wood, R-Anniston, would prohibit a driver from physically handling a mobile phone in any capacity, and would limit phone use to hands-free operations. Wood’s bill is similar to another bill that has failed to pass the Legislature over the past four sessions.
The bill has the backing of law enforcement, but raises serious questions about its enforcement. Can such a bill, outlawing an activity that’s not always easy to detect, be enforced impartially, or will it simply serve as a pretext for law enforcement officers to pull over whomever they want? Given the NTSB’s skepticism about the number of law-enforcement-reported distracted driving fatalities, one does wonder. And given the rise in road deaths even as other states have clamped down on distracted driving, one also wonders if the law will serve its stated purpose of making the roads safer.
There is a limit to what passing laws can do, but even those that are difficult if not impossible to enforce may change behavior. There is evidence that’s the case with seat belt laws, and we know the best thing people can do to ensure they survive a vehicle crash is wear a seat belt. Not wearing one can be deadly, and the NTSB reported that in 2021, the number of unbelted passengers killed rose 8.1%.
So maybe even an unenforceable law against handling a mobile phone while driving will encourage safer driving habits.
Ultimately there is no substitute for drivers simply driving more responsibly and wearing seat belts. And when it comes to distracted driving, the technology that’s part of the problem is also part of the solution. The same hands-free tech that’s on phones is already on some vehicles’ own controls.
As for those of us who drive older vehicles, we still have to remember not to get too preoccupied with finding a good radio station.
