December 16, 2011
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a call on Tuesday to ban all kinds of electronic multitasking, according to LoHud. Only driver-assisting devices such as GPS systems would be permitted.
“Drivers need to keep not only their hands on the wheel; they also have to keep their brains on the road,” neuroscientist Marcell Just of Carnegie Mellon University Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging said in a statement lauding NTSB’s proposed ban.
He found that simply listening to someone speak on the other end of a phone reduces driving-associated brain activity by 37 percent, compared to driving alone and using all those synapses to concentrate on the road.
“It’s time to put a stop to distraction. No call, no text, no update is worth a human life,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman.
Along with six other states, Texas bans the practice of texting while driving for novice drivers. Texas also bans the practice by school bus drivers.
The Houston Chronicle reports that Texas is unlikely to accept such an all-inclusive ban as the NTSB calls for. “There’s no will in Texas to do that,” state Rep. Gary Elkins told the paper.
Have you or someone you know been injured in a Texas auto accident that was caused by distracted driving?
The Houston auto accident lawyers at Terry Bryant Accident & Injury Law may be able to help.
