By The Herald Editorial Board
We’re not getting any closer to Target Zero; in fact, we’re headed in the other direction.
Target Zero, the campaign by the Washington State Patrol, the state Traffic Safety Commission and state Department of Transportation to reduce traffic deaths and serious injuries to zero by 2030, has led public information efforts and encouraged legislation to address the most common causes of traffic wrecks: drivers who are impaired, drowsy or distracted.
Those and other efforts were successful in bringing down traffic fatalities to 436 in 2013 from a high of 825 in 1990. But since 2013, the numbers have started to edge up; there were 568 traffic deaths in 2015, which was a 23 percent increase over 2014. Incomplete numbers for 2016, 556 deaths, show little improvement. Nationwide, more than 35,000 traffic deaths have been reported annually.
Impaired drivers still account for the largest portion of those accidents, deaths and injuries, but the incidence of distracted driving is increasing and accounts for some of the recent rise in accidents and fatalities. Distracted driving, which can involve a number of activities but often involves a smartphone or other handheld device, was cited in 130 of the state’s traffic deaths in 2014, which increased to 171 in 2015. While data isn’t complete for 2016, its believed that distracted driving accounted for a third of the deaths on the road, more than a quarter directly related to use of phones.
As they have repeatedly for a number of years, legislators will make another attempt to strengthen the state’s laws on distracted driving. State Rep. Jessyn Farrell, D-Seattle, and Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, are preparing legislation for introduction this session called the Driving Under the Influence of Electronics Act, The Seattle Times reported Sunday.
The comparison to driving under the influence of intoxicants makes sense, because the end result is the same. Looking away from the road for even a few seconds and the distraction caused by phones themselves are as dangerous as impaired driving. Your risk of an accident is three-fold when talking on a cellphone and is 23 times more likely when entering information, such as texting or entering an address into a phone, according to Target Zero.
Current law bars drivers from holding a phone to their ear, but allows “hands-free” and emergency calls. Reading or texting messages is an infraction, as well, but entering a phone number is allowed. Aside from a few tweaks, the state law has not significantly changed in 10 years.
Among the changes being considered in Farrell’s and Rivers’ bill would be an increase in the fine for use of a handheld device to $350 from the current $124 fine. If you think that’s too harsh, consider that Oregon’s current fine is $1,000 for the first violation, $1,500 for the second and up to $10,000 if children are in the vehicle.
The legislation also would change the current law and make the citations reportable to courts and insurance companies, providing further incentive to put the phone down. Rivers told the Times that the proposal would allow drivers to use hands-free devices, such as Bluetooth headsets.
Some drivers will maintain that they’re fully capable of using a phone, handheld or otherwise, while they’re behind the wheel. It’s an argument that is as convincing as that from someone who insists he or she is fine to drive after a night of drinking.
Recent research, such as that by the National Safety Council, is showing that even hands-free devices pose a risk of distraction for drivers, pulling attention away from the road. Drivers talking on a phone can miss seeing up to 50 percent of the driving environment, including pedestrians and red lights, the safety council says.
While, there’s justification for barring hands-free devices, better that the proposed legislation and its added penalties get through the Legislature this year. Similar legislation passed the Senate last year but died in the House.
Motorists often chafe at such laws; nobody likes paying traffic tickets or higher insurance premiums. But then that’s the point. It took years for seat belt laws to be strengthened and for the public to accept their necessity. Now, Washington state drivers and passengers use seat belts about 95 percent of the time, a practice that has without a doubt saved lives.
Let’s do the same to fight distracted driving.
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