Skip to main content

Partnership to fight distracted driving

US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced that the US DOT and Better Business Bureau will collaborate to educate consumers and businesses about the dangers of distracted driving. “Distracted driving has become a deadly epidemic on America’s roads,” Secretary LaHood said. “We know that educating people about the risk of distracted driving works, and we are pleased to be working with BBB to raise awareness and help businesses and consumers fight this problem.”
April 23, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSSUS Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced that the US DOT and Better Business Bureau will collaborate to educate consumers and businesses about the dangers of distracted driving.

“Distracted driving has become a deadly epidemic on America’s roads,” Secretary LaHood said. “We know that educating people about the risk of distracted driving works, and we are pleased to be working with BBB to raise awareness and help businesses and consumers fight this problem.”

The national website of the Better Business Bureau will feature a link to a free tool kit that provides employers with suggested distracted driving policies to help keep their employees safe. The kit, created by the USDOT and the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS), contains materials such as a sample company policy, a sample memo to employees on that policy, and a sample company press release.

In addition, Better Business Bureau’s national website will feature videos from USDOT’s “Faces of Distracted Driving” video series. The videos include heartbreaking stories from family members who have lost loved ones due to distracted driving accidents. Better Business Bureau will also provide a link to www.distraction.gov, a complete resource on everything having to do with distracted driving.

Nearly 5,500 people in the U.S. were killed and almost half a million were injured in accidents related to distracted driving in 2009. Eighteen per cent of those fatal accidents involved the use of a cell phone.

The US Department of Transportation’s campaign against distracted driving is a multi-modal effort that includes automobiles, trains, planes, and commercial vehicles.

Related Content

  • ARTBA honours commitment to work zone safety
    September 24, 2012
    The American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s Transportation Development Foundation (ARTBA-TDF) 14th annual “Roadway Work Zone Safety Awareness Awards” has recognised ten public and private organisations for their commitment to promoting safety. The competition recognises outstanding programs, campaigns and technologies aimed at helping reduce roadway work zone accidents, injuries and fatalities. Winners were announced in three categories: Outreach Campaigns, recognises efforts that promote roa
  • GHSA urges cannabis messaging
    August 26, 2022
    As cannabis use increases in US, report calls for better communication about road safety
  • Comprehensive communications combats tolling resistance
    May 19, 2017
    Toll road operator must provide clear, comprehensive and consistent communications to user groups and the local community long before the facility opens. When new tolled highway infrastructure is about to go into service, the construction, management and finance specialists who brought it into being are about ready for a well-deserved celebration. But for the communications and outreach team responsible for building public support for the project – for bringing drivers to the road, and keeping partners and
  • Observing driver behaviour in real traffic condition
    March 16, 2016
    The EU’s UDRIVE project will investigate driver behaviour in terms of road safety and the decarbonisation of road transport, as Nicole van Nes and Silvia Curbelo explain. There were nearly 25,700 fatalities on European Union (EU) roads in 2014 or, to look it another way, roughly 70 people are killed in traffic accidents on European roads every day - and many more are injured. Around 22% of the fatalities are pedestrians, 15% will be motorcycle riders and 8% cyclists. So despite the improvements in road safe