U.S. Department of Transportation Releases Latest Video in “Faces of Distracted Driving” Series

“Alex Brown wasn’t a sta­tis­tic – she was a beloved daugh­ter and a sis­ter, and her death left a hole in the heart of her fam­ily mem­bers and friends,” said Sec­re­tary LaHood. “I hope that every­one who hears the Brown fam­ily speak about their tragic loss will real­ize that no text mes­sage or phone call is worth the risk. Addi­tional media atten­tion, like ABC’s help­ing share the Browns’ story with the view­ers of Extreme Makeover: Home Edi­tion, is also vital.”

“She’s a huge part of our lives that’s just gone,” said Jeanne Brown. “But maybe we can reach one young per­son or help keep some­one else’s daugh­ter from doing this.”

“Faces of Dis­tracted Dri­ving” is a video series explor­ing the tragic con­se­quences of tex­ting and cell phone use while dri­ving. It fea­tures peo­ple from across the coun­try who have been injured or lost loved ones in dis­tracted dri­ving crashes. In 2009, nearly 5,500 peo­ple died and half a mil­lion were injured in acci­dents involv­ing a dis­tracted dri­ver. The series is part of Sec­re­tary LaHood’s effort to raise greater aware­ness about the dan­gers of dis­tracted driving.

USDOT is also encour­ag­ing oth­ers who would like to share their dis­tracted dri­ving expe­ri­ences to post videos on YouTube and email the links to: faces@distraction.gov.

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

The Fed­eral Rail­road Admin­is­tra­tion (FRA) issued a rule pro­hibit­ing rail employ­ees from using cell phones or other elec­tronic devices on the job fol­low­ing a Sep­tem­ber 2008 Metrolink crash in Chatsworth, Cal­i­for­nia that killed 25 people.

After a North­west flight crew dis­tracted by a lap­top over­shot their des­ti­na­tion by 150 miles, the Fed­eral Avi­a­tion Admin­is­tra­tion (FAA) advised air car­ri­ers to cre­ate and enforce poli­cies that limit dis­trac­tions in the cock­pit and keep pilots focused on trans­port­ing pas­sen­gers safely.

The Fed­eral Motor Car­rier Safety Admin­is­tra­tion (FMCSA) issued a rule pro­hibit­ing text mes­sag­ing while oper­at­ing a com­mer­cial motor vehi­cle in Sep­tem­ber 2010. In Decem­ber 2010, FMCSA issued a pro­posal to restrict the use of cell phones by com­mer­cial dri­vers while oper­at­ing. A rule­mak­ing pro­posed by the a href=“http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/” target=“blank”>Pipeline and Haz­ardous Mate­ri­als Safety Admin­is­tra­tion (PHMSA) in Sep­tem­ber 2010 to work in con­junc­tion with the FMCSA ban would restrict the use of elec­tronic devices by dri­vers dur­ing the oper­a­tion of a motor vehi­cle con­tain­ing haz­ardous mate­ri­als. The pub­lic is invited to com­ment on the pro­posed rulemaking.

To learn more about USDOT’s efforts to stop dis­tracted dri­ving, please visit www.distraction.gov.

PLEASE WATCH & SHARE: the entire “Faces of Dis­tracted Dri­ving” series @ www.distraction.gov/faces.
“Dis­tracted Dri­ving Kills. Safe Dri­ving Starts With YOU.”

The Remem­ber Alex Brown Foun­da­tion (RAB) hon­ors Alex’s mem­ory by edu­cat­ing oth­ers about the dan­gers of tex­ting while dri­ving. Their web­site encour­ages oth­ers to share their dis­tracted dri­ving sto­ries and pledge online not to text while oper­at­ing a vehicle.

You can learn more about The Remem­ber Alex Brown Foun­da­tion at www.rememberalexbrownfoundation.org.

Remem­ber Alex Brown — CLICK TO take the pledge to NOT text and drive