[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 23, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H2229-H2231]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              NATIONAL DISTRACTED DRIVING AWARENESS MONTH

  Ms. MARKEY of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1186) expressing support for 
designation of April as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1186

       Whereas 9-year-old Erica Forney of Fort Collins, Colorado, 
     was struck and killed by a distracted driver in 2008;
       Whereas there were more than 276,000,000 wireless cell 
     phone subscribers in the United States as of June 2009, an 
     increase of 42 percent from 194,000,000 in June 2005, and 
     nearly 3 times more than the 97,000,000 wireless subscribers 
     in June 2000;
       Whereas over 600,000,000,000 text messages were sent in 
     2008, nearly 4 times the number sent in 2006;
       Whereas according to the recent National Motor Vehicle 
     Crash Causation Survey, 80 percent of all traffic incidents 
     and 65 percent of all near-crashes involve some type of 
     distraction;
       Whereas according to data from the Fatality Analysis 
     Reporting System (FARS), driver distraction was reported to 
     have been involved in 16 percent of all fatal crashes in 
     2008, which is an increase from 12 percent in 2004;
       Whereas the Secretary of Transportation held a Distracted 
     Driving Summit in September 2009; and
       Whereas April would be an appropriate month to designate as 
     National Distracted Driving Awareness Month: Now, therefore, 
     be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) supports the designation of Distracted Driving 
     Awareness Month;
       (2) encourages all people in the United States to consider 
     the lives of others on the road and avoid distracted driving; 
     and
       (3) respectfully requests the Clerk of the House to 
     transmit a copy of this resolution to FocusDriven, an 
     advocacy group for victims of motor vehicle crashes involving 
     drivers using cell phones.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Colorado (Ms. Markey) and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Colorado.


                             General Leave

  Ms. MARKEY of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and to include extraneous material on House Resolution 
1186.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Colorado?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. MARKEY of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to raise awareness about a deadly trend in 
our Nation, distracted driving. Eighty percent of all crashes involve 
some sort of distraction, and in 2008, nearly 6,000 people lost their 
lives in accidents involving a distracted behavior.
  One of those 6,000 was Erica Forney of Fort Collins, Colorado. Nine-
year-old Erica was riding her bike home from school when she was struck 
and killed by a large SUV whose driver was on a cell phone. The driver 
said she never even saw Erica who was a mere 15 pedals away from her 
home.
  The tragic story of Erica's death is all too common, and worse, her 
story was preventable.
  I introduce House Resolution 1186 to raise awareness about the 
dangers of distracted driving. This resolution will designate April as 
Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Studies have shown that distracted 
driving is just as dangerous as driving drunk, and while everyone knows 
driving drunk is dangerous, far fewer people are aware of the risks of 
distracted driving. A driver increases the risk of a crash by 2,300 
percent if he or she is texting while driving.
  Currently, 20 States have enacted texting while driving bans, and I'm 
proud to say Colorado is one of them.
  The Federal Government has also taken a stand against distracted 
driving. The Department of Transportation introduced federal guidance 
to prohibit texting by drivers of commercial vehicles. President Obama 
issued an Executive Order banning texting while driving on official 
business for federal employees. Last September, Secretary LaHood held a 
distracted driving summit and celebrated the establishment of Focus 
Driven, a national nonprofit dedicated to ending this epidemic and for 
providing support for families who have lost loved ones. After hearing 
stories of those involved with Focus Driven, even Oprah has urged the 
public to make their cars a ``no phone zone.''
  I urge all of my colleagues to take the ``no phone zone'' pledge. The 
risk that you present to yourself and to others by driving distractedly 
are not worth it. Please pull over and take a call or send a text 
message.
  I urge a ``yes'' vote on House Resolution 1186 and ask for the help 
of my colleagues in ending this epidemic of distracted driving.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in support of House Resolution 1186, a resolution expressing 
support for designating April as National Distracted Driving Awareness 
Month, and I would like to commend the gentlewoman from Colorado for 
introducing this resolution.
  This is a growing problem, as she has pointed out. The Transportation 
Committee held a hearing on distracted driving in October, and the 
testimony at the hearing proved that there are no shortage of ways a 
driver can be distracted. And I would like to commend Transportation 
Secretary LaHood, who has started a nationwide campaign against 
distracted driving and has made this one of the top priorities of his 
Department.
  During the hearing we held, testimony was presented showing a three-
fold, or tripling, of the instance of accidents if the driver is 
holding a hand-held cell phone, and a 23-fold increase in the odds of 
getting in an accident if a driver is texting. According to the 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as the gentlewoman from 
Colorado mentioned, 6,000 people die each year in crashes involving a 
distracted or inattentive driver.
  I had a personal experience a few months ago of this. I changed 
several stations on an XM radio as I was driving on an interstate 
connector in Knoxville, and when I looked up, the truck in front of me 
had come almost to a stop. I had to slam on my brakes. I slid across 
three lanes of traffic, spun around back across the three lanes, 
slammed into the median, and then back again going in a 360-degree 
circle. Fortunately, with traffic whizzing by me all the time, I didn't 
hit another vehicle and no one was injured. But it sure caught my 
attention and gave me a new awareness of the danger of distracted 
driving.

[[Page H2230]]

  During the month of April, I hope this resolution reminds all drivers 
of the harmful consequences of distracted driving, and I urge my 
colleagues to support this resolution.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. MARKEY of Colorado. I would like to yield to the gentleman from 
New York (Mr. Engel) as much time as he may consume.

                              {time}  1500

  Mr. ENGEL. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me and I rise 
today in strong support of her resolution, H. Res. 1186, to designate 
April as Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
  As Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood recently said, distracted 
driving is a deadly epidemic. In its 2009 report on distracted driving, 
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that fully 
one-quarter of traffic accidents involved distracted driving. These 
crashes resulted in nearly 6,000 fatalities and over half a million 
injuries. This is why I so strongly support the gentlewoman, Ms. 
Markey's resolution and why I introduced my own legislation, the 
Distracted Driving Prevention Act.
  Electronic devices have become a ubiquitous part of our daily lives. 
Many of us use BlackBerries, cell phones, and pagers daily, but it's 
obvious to anybody who has used those devices that a person becomes 
very distracted while using them. The growing practice of individuals 
texting or reading emails while driving puts everyone on the road at 
risk.
  My legislation would provide money for driver education and highway 
signage, both of which have helped reduce the incidence of driving 
under the influence or driving without a seat belt, according to the 
U.S. Department of Transportation, so it will work with distracted 
driving as well. In addition, it would create a national advertising 
campaign, administered by the National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration, to educate the public on the dangers of distracted 
driving.
  Mr. Speaker, we all know how important it is to end the deadly 
practice of distracted driving, and I urge my colleagues to support 
this resolution and work towards an end to this epidemic. If we are 
really going to be true to ourselves, it's really logical to 
understand--anybody who drives understands this--that if they are 
distracted using a cell phone or if they are distracted texting, they 
cannot be at 100 percent in terms of safety. And so that's why Ms. 
Markey's resolution is so important, and that's why I hope that my 
legislation, as well, gets passed and signed into law.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, the half million figure that the gentleman 
from New York just mentioned is accurate as far as people now, but it's 
probably a conservative figure, because that's just what the police 
know about. There are probably a great many other accidents and 
injuries that are caused by distracted drivers that the police don't 
recognize, but that is the accepted figure. It's an astounding figure.
  I have no other speakers and I urge all my colleagues to support this 
resolution.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. MARKEY of Colorado. I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota for 
as much time as he may consume.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding, and I appreciate 
very much her personal story. It was a very, very compelling story of a 
child in not only her district, her hometown.
  It was very touching for me, Mr. Speaker, because my youngest 
daughter lives in Fort Collins with her husband and 3-year-old, Cali 
Jo. Monica bikes in the neighborhoods where she lives at Fort Collins 
with a child carrier, and I thought of that tragic accident and I 
thought of Monica, and I thought of her little Cali and how it could 
well have been them, could well have been this 3-year-old child.
  The distinguished gentleman from Tennessee, former chairman of the 
Aviation Committee and Chair of the Surface Transportation 
Subcommittee, and the gentleman has been very candid, very touching in 
the story that he related of his own shocking and deeply troubling 
experience, that's not to say, scary. Your life just sort of spins out 
of control at a certain moment when a tragic event of this kind occurs.
  These are all reminders, very graphic reminders that we are not 
talking about an abstraction, not talking about some possibility that 
might happen to someone else but I don't have to worry. Yes, we do. We 
all have to worry.
  We all can remember a time--when I started up here as a clerk of the 
Subcommittee on Rivers and Harbors, we had dial telephones. The idea of 
a cell phone was something written up in Dick Tracy, in the cartoon 
strip, and Diet Smith. But Diet Smith is with us today.
  There are 276 million of these devices in our midst, 276 million cell 
phones, BlackBerries, smartphones, wireless call phone subscribers; 600 
billion text messages sent last year in the United States, just in the 
United States alone. It's hard to walk down a street and not count one 
out of every three people or maybe even more with a cell phone on their 
ear, looking at a BlackBerry in their hand. I have seen people run into 
telephone poles looking at these things. Then what happens when they 
are driving?
  There are lots of reasons for distracted driving: eating, drinking, 
talking to passengers, singing songs, looking at a map. I have seen 
people with a newspaper on their steering wheel driving down, to be 
sure, in congested traffic, but they ought to be paying attention to 
the traffic and not to the newspaper. Worst is the cell phone; it's an 
extraordinary distraction.
  And what we know is that 80 percent of traffic incidents, two-thirds 
of all the near misses on the roadways, are due to distracted driving; 
6,000 fatalities a year. It's not just in the United States.
  Two years ago, I met with the 27 Ministers of the European 
Transportation Ministry. We talked about a wide range of issues. I 
discussed with them what we were planning on surface transportation, in 
our committee, and water resources needs, but the one thing they all 
wanted to talk about was distracted driving.
  It's a serious problem in the 520 million population of the 27 
members of the European Union such that the Transport Ministry and the 
European Parliament Committee on Transportation have enacted 
legislation prohibiting the use of cell phones and BlackBerries while 
driving.
  In Portugal, the Minister of Transportation told me it is a crime. 
They have made it a crime to use a cell phone while driving; it is that 
serious an issue, that serious a threat to life and limb.
  As we discuss this legislation today, as we voted unanimously in our 
committee to report this bill out, let us remember 9-year-old Erica 
Forney. Let us remember Mr. Duncan and his lifesaving experience. Let 
us remember the other thousands who are killed annually by people who 
just aren't paying attention, who are seriously distracted and whose 
lives we can save as we pass this bill.
  Let us also thank our Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, for 
taking the initiative, having the courage to stand up, call a national 
conference on distracted driving, and then issue a directive to the 
Department and use the authority that he has to limit within or 
prohibit within the Department and set an example for all of our fellow 
citizens on distracted driving.
  But as we do this, let us remember that the lives we save will, 
unlike other things we do, never be able to say thank you. They don't 
know that we, this day, passed legislation that will move America in 
the direction of a much safer roadway, a much safer driving experience 
for all of our fellow citizens. Let us keep the Erica Forneys in our 
minds and in our hearts as we pass this legislation.
  Ms. MARKEY of Colorado. I would like to thank the gentleman from 
Minnesota and the chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure 
Committee for his very eloquent statement on behalf of this resolution. 
I also want to thank my colleague from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) for 
sharing your very personal story of the impact of distracted driving.
  If we just save one life or prevent one accident with this resolution 
to raise awareness for distracted driving, we will have been 
successful. So, again, this is to remember those who have lost their 
lives because of a distracted driver on their cell phone or texting 
and, again, to raise awareness so that we can prevent future accidents 
like

[[Page H2231]]

Erica Forney from Fort Collins, Colorado.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 
1186, offered by the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. Markey), expressing 
support for the designation of April as National Distracted Driving 
Awareness Month. I thank the gentlewoman for her leadership on this 
important highway safety issue.
  Last October, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held 
a hearing to examine the issue of distracted driving, and the risks it 
poses to the traveling public. Research has highlighted the dangers of 
distracted driving. According to the Department of Transportation 
(DOT), 80 percent of traffic incidents and 65 percent of near-misses 
are as a result of distracted driving. More troubling still are the 
nearly 6,000 fatalities annually that occur as a result of distracted 
driving, according to DOT estimates.
  Distracted driving can occur in three different forms--visual, 
manual, or cognitive. Distraction stems from a variety of activities, 
such as eating or drinking, talking to other passengers, looking at a 
map, or changing the radio station. Although all distractions are 
dangerous, in recent years, the problem of electronic devices has 
become particularly troubling, as it can encompass all three types of 
distraction--visual, manual, and cognitive.
  Cell phones, Blackberrys, and smart phones have become ubiquitous, 
with 276 million wireless cell phone subscribers in America as of June 
2009, and 600 billion text messages sent in 2008 alone. Although these 
devices have improved communications and the flow of information, their 
use while driving poses a threat to all users of the surface 
transportation system.
  The gentlewoman from Colorado has seen firsthand the tragic impacts 
of this in her Congressional district. In November 2008, nine-year old 
Erica Forney was riding her bike home from school when a driver, 
distracted by a conversation on her cell phone, struck Erica. On 
Thanksgiving Day, after two days of hospitalization, Erica passed away. 
Sadly, stories like Erica's are played out across America every day, 
and are completely preventable.
  To substantially reduce the annual number of highway fatalities, we 
must take a hard look at distracted driving, especially distractions 
that come from electronic devices. Last September, Secretary of 
Transportation Ray LaHood hosted a summit on distracted driving, and 
acted swiftly to ban texting while driving for commercial vehicle 
operators. I applaud the Secretary's efforts, and look forward to 
working with him to improve safety on the nation's transportation 
network.
  Addressing this problem will require commitment from all Americans to 
focus on the road while they are driving. Just as the efforts of the 
safety community have helped to stigmatize drunk driving, we need to 
make it clear that texting and using a cell phone while driving are 
unsafe and socially unacceptable. Too often, the need to be in constant 
communication leads us to forget that, without our full attention, 
driving is a high-risk activity.
  By designating April as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, 
we can raise awareness of this growing problem, and encourage Americans 
to think twice before picking up a cell phone or texting while driving.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Res. 1186.
  Ms. MARKEY of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Lujan). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. Markey) that the House 
suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 1186.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Ms. MARKEY of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

                          ____________________