One reason bicycle modeshare remains dismal

Want Your Job to Scare You? Try Studying Distracted Driving

By Sarah Goodyear -- Peter Tuckel, a sociology professor at Hunter College at the City University of New York, studies the habits of motorists. It is not a reassuring pastime.

“I’m terrified when I walk,” says Tuckel, who lives in a bucolic Connecticut suburb. “I’m wary when I see cars because I’m always thinking, the person is on a cell phone and not thinking of my presence as a pedestrian.”

Tuckel hasn’t done a formal investigation of distracted driving in his town specifically, but he knows the national figures. Next time you’re going about your business on a typical day in the United States, whether on foot, on a bike, or in a car, you can think about them too: at any random moment during daylight hours across the country, according to the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration, about 660,000 American drivers are using cell phones or other electronic devices while behind the wheel.

It is kind of terrifying, isn’t it?  [Full article ...]

Poster's note: If this behavior is at least as dangerous as driving drunk, why isn't it penalized as such? Why are legislators so afraid to look after our safety?