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Apple and five points below the industry average

To put these numbers in further perspective: Drunken driving caused more than three times as many fatalities. And mobile phones were not the main cause of distractions. In 2009, the Transportation Department found phones were either being used by or “in the presence of” a driver in 18 percent of distracted-driving fatalities. Another department report concluded that “conversing with a passenger was the most common source of distraction” from inside cars.

Even as digital devices proliferate, our roads are getting safer, not more ainol novo7 aurora ii. The same news release that announced 3,092 distracted-driving deaths for 2010 pointed out that traffic fatalities were at their lowest in six decades. The roads would have been even safer if more drivers had paid attention to the road instead of their phone calls. But that problem hasn’t been severe enough to reverse the downward trend in fatalities.

There is little evidence that state laws already enacted against text-messaging while driving are saving lives. In 2010, the Highway Loss Data Institute, a nonprofit research organization sponsored by the insurance industry, found that these laws had actually increased accident rates, perhaps because they lead to drivers’ “hiding their phones from view,” which requires them to move their eyes further from the road.

When LaHood’s aide talks about “incentivizing” states, what he means is that the federal government should withhold transportation funds unless states pass tough a9220 kaufen. That’s what the government has done on drunken driving. But there is no case for such federal intervention in the case of distracted driving. We don’t know what policies will pass a cost-benefit test.

The federal government should let states set their own policies. Some would concentrate on education, particularly for young drivers. Others would restrict texting, but allow hands-free phone calls. Very few, it seems safe to say, would ban navigation systems. Over time we would learn more about which regulatory model works best, and states could draw on that information in designing and refining their policies.

James Pericola, a chief of staff at the NTSB during the Clinton administration who is now at a lobbying firm, says LaHood’s hostility to drivers’ use of technology “is just not realistic.” Companies that provide technology for drivers, such as GPS makers, have also been slow to see the danger of overregulation and to resist LaHood, he adds. “No one is standing up for the consumer on this issue.”

LaHood has taken to dealing out his own low-tech punishment to drivers who use mobile phones: He honks his horn at them. That’s got to be distracting for everyone nearby.

report includes its yearly data on customer satisfaction with cellphone manufacturers. This is the first year ACSI has included Apple, RIM, HTC and LG in this particular survey. Apple topped the heap of cellphone manufacturers with 83 points, out of 100 total. This is slightly lower than the customer satisfaction for Apple’s personal computers, which include Mac and iPad products (yes, ACSI considers the iPad a PC). Mac computers were awarded 87 points by ACSI in September 2011.