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Deadly epidemic of distracted driving sweeping US: official
2009-09-30
WASHINGTON (AFP) - An epidemic of distracted driving is sweeping the United States, claiming thousands of lives and injuring half a million people last year, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told a meeting on the deadly phenomenon Wednesday. "Nearly 6,000 people died last year in crashes involving a distracted driver and more than half a million were injured," LaHood told a packed gathering in Washington attended by transportation, safety and technology experts as well as the families of people killed by distracted drivers. Research has shown that on any given day last year, more than three-quarters of a million vehicles were driven by someone using a hand-held mobile telephone, but distracted driving isn't limited just to cellphones but could also be due to someone playing a video game, using their iPod or Blackberry, even putting on nail polish, said LaHood. "Greg Zaffke from Chicago lost his mother when a driver who was painting her nails said she never saw the red light at the intersection... "Jennifer Smith's mother, Linda Doyle, was killed in Oklahoma City about a year ago by a teenage driver... going 45 miles an hour (70 kilometers per hour) while talking on a cell phone," LaHood said, singling out audience members at the summit and putting a human face on the tragedy caused by distracted driving. Distracted driving isn't limited only to individuals but also concerns drivers of public transportation, including America's thousands of yellow schoolbuses, said LaHood. "They're doing it every day of the week, in the rain, and with kids" in their vehicle, said LaHood, calling distracted driving "an epidemic that has overtaken America and is getting worse." The summit meeting on distracted driving was called by LaHood not just to discuss the growing phenomenon but also to find solutions.
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