"To put it plainly, distracted driving is a menace to society. Distracted driving is an epidemic and it seems to be getting worse every year," Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation.

Until recently, collisions were simply a cost of doing business and it was anyone's guess as to what was occurring behind the wheel. For instance:

• In 2008, 5,870 people lost their lives and an estimated 515,000 people were injured in crashes in which at least one form of driver distraction occurred.
• During a study conducted by VTTI for NHTSA, driver involvement in secondary tasks contributed to over 22% of all crashes and near-crashes recorded.

As a result of these frightening figures, Secretary LaHood is pursuing the following:

• Ban text messaging altogether and restrict the use of cell phones by truck drivers and interstate bus operators.
• Disqualify school bus drivers convicted of texting while driving from maintaining commercial driver's licenses.
• Reducing fatalities and crashes by making distracted driving part of state highway plans, and continuing to pass state and local laws against distracted driving in all types of vehicles, especially school buses.

In addition, the Obama Administration released an Executive Order directing federal employees not to engage in text messaging while driving government-owned vehicles; when using electronic equipment supplied by the government while driving; or while driving privately owned vehicles when they are on official government business.

What Can Be Done to Stop This Menace?

It's imperative that drivers be aware of what they are doing behind the wheel and understand that the most important (and only) thing they should be doing when driving is ... driving. Even hands-free use of a cell phone doesn't stop the problem.

"There are limits to how much we can multi-task, and that combination of cell phone and driving exceeds the limits," says David Strayer, a of Utah psychologist who found that by many measures, drivers talking on cell phones are more dangerous behind the wheel than those who are drunk, whether the conversation is carried on by handset or headset.

Distracted driving, drowsy driving and just plain poor driving habits lead to risky driving and possible collisions. For a dramatic example of how distracted driving can have dire consequences, click on the video thumbnail below. So how do you correct these problems? Why do some driving safety programs succeed, while others do not? It all comes down to effective risk identification and coaching with the proper tools.

• Effective Risk Identification – Fleet operators must have the tools to identify risky driving on an on-going basis before it leads to a crash. Very few fleets have the tools to identify poor driving before it's too late. This is especially true of distracted driving.
• Coaching with the Proper Tools – Driver coaching is an important follow up activity once concerning driving has been identified. One of the challenges is that when it comes to driving, just about every driver thinks they are good. In a recent survey, DriveCam found that 78% of drivers surveyed rated themselves as at least above-average drivers; yet this same group only rated 9% of other drivers as better than average.

So, when coaching, how do you convince a driver that they need to change their behavior? Studies have shown video to be a valuable deterrent when it comes to curtailing these types of behaviors. And with visual evidence of the behavior, coaches can quickly move past any debate about what really happened and instead focus on what needs to change to reduce risk in the future.

Our own internal research has shown that 54% of all distractions are related to a cell phone – either hand held or hands free. Our research has also shown that the use of an in-cab video monitoring system can reduce by up to 90% the number of distractions, as long behavioral coaching is also involved. This number varies slightly based upon the industry, type of vehicle and length of time the driver has been monitored.

Conclusion

To eliminate texting while driving – and other forms of driver distraction – fleet operators need to take a three-fold approach:

1. Strong company policy and enforcement regarding distracted driving
2. Internal education and training about the dangers of distracted driving
3. Use of technologies to monitor compliance and identify inappropriate cell use or texting as well as other forms of unsafe driving

As Secretary LaHood said, "We must kill distracted driving before it kills us." Now it's just a matter of figuring out the best way to do so.