Carmakers Under Scrutiny for New Communication Technologies

Amidst a nationwide effort aimed at reducing the number of accidents caused by distracted driving, the carmakers themselves will now feel some type of pressure coming from the US authorities. For years now, carmakers have been advertising their vehicles with emphasis on new communication technologies, ranging from Internet access to in-car TVs. All those technologies, the federal government says, do nothing but add to the level of distraction drivers experience while behind the wheel.

The measures to be put into effect at an yet undetermined date will comprise guidelines for automakers to follow, guidelines which are intended to help carmakers reduce the risks they make drivers face by adding technologies which, for instance, allow one's Facebook page to be updated from the car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) 2009 Motor Vehicles Crashes report presented earlier this week showed that the proportion of fatalities associated with driver distraction increased from 10 percent to 16 percent between 2005 and 2009.

A total of 5,474 people died in 2009 due to distracted driving, with the number of people injured as a result of such crashes reaching 448,000. In 2009, the number of people dead due to distracted driving accounted for 16 percent of overall traffic fatalities in 2009, the same as in 2008.

All these figures have been registered in a period when new car sales dropped perhaps more than ever, distracted driving thus becoming what Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood calls “an epidemic.”

Several measures to those numbers down are currently being considered, including penalties for employers who ask people to text while driving.