October 28, 2012 (Press-News.org) Many Los Angeles residents are all too familiar with the sight of drivers who are more focused on their cellphones than on the road. In a busy metropolitan area like Los Angeles, the risks of texting while driving are particularly high -- and yet the phenomenon remains alarmingly common.
Distracted Driving by the Numbers
According to a study by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, distracted driving plays a role in 80 percent of U.S. traffic crashes and 65 percent of near-misses. While all types of distractions can be dangerous for drivers, cellphone use -- and texting in particular -- is especially risky because it occupies a driver's eyes, hands and concentration all at once, taking them away from the task of driving.
Researchers at VTTI found that drivers look away from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds each time they send or receive a text message. At 55 miles per hour, this is the equivalent of driving the length of a football field -- blindfolded. Perhaps not surprisingly, VTTI researchers also found that texting while driving creates a risk of crashing that is 23 times higher than for non-distracted drivers.
Hands-Free Texting Legalized in California
A new law set to go into effect in California on January 1, 2013, will allow drivers to send and receive text messages with the use of a hands-free device, in much the same way that California law currently permits hands-free cellphone calls while driving. Talking or texting on hand-held devices will remain prohibited, as has been the case in California since 2009.
Some traffic safety advocates believe that an outright ban on all cellphone use while driving would be a better approach to preventing distracted driving injuries, since even hands-free cellphone use involves cognitive distraction that may lead to accidents. However, others believe that California's new hands-free provision is a more practical way to promote safer driving habits.
Distracted Driving: More Than Just Cellphones
While cellphone use and texting have become a major cause of distracted driving accidents in Los Angeles, it is important to remember that other types of driver distraction can have equally disastrous consequences. Other distractions that frequently lead to accidents include:
- Eating or drinking
- Adjusting the stereo
- Reading a map
- Grooming
- Reaching for objects inside the vehicle
- Focusing on things outside the vehicle, e.g. looking at a traffic accident or searching for an address
People who have been injured in distracted driving accidents in Los Angeles may be able to receive compensation for their injuries, medical expenses and other losses that they have suffered because of the accident. To learn more about seeking compensation after a distracted driving crash, contact an experienced Los Angeles Car Accident Lawyer.
Website: http://caraccidentsinla.com
Distracted Driving Remains a Major Threat in Los Angeles
According to a study by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration distracted driving plays a role in 80 percent of U.S. traffic crashes.
2012-10-28
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Models developed from the PLCO may help identify at-risk patients for adverse smoking outcomes
2012-10-27
Risk prediction models developed from an ancillary study of the Prostate Lung Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) may be useful in the public health sector for identifying individuals who are at risk for adverse smoking outcomes, such as relapse among former smokers and continued smoking among current smokers, and those who may benefit from relapse prevention and smoking cessation interventions according to a study published October 26 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
With a projected 226,160 new cases of lung cancer and 160,340 lung ...
NASA sees Hurricane Sandy as the "Bride of Frankenstorm" approaching the US East Coast
2012-10-27
VIDEO:
An animation of NOAA's GOES-13 satellite observations from Oct. 24-26, 2012, shows Hurricane Sandy crossing eastern Cuba and moving through and exiting the Bahamas. This visualization was created by the...
Click here for more information.
NASA's TRMM satellite revealed Hurricane Sandy's heavy rainfall and the storm is expected to couple with a powerful cold front and Arctic air to bring that heavy rainfall to the Mid-Atlantic and northeastern U.S. Some forecasters ...
Results of the STEMI-RADIAL trial presented at TCT 2012
2012-10-27
MIAMI, FL – OCTOBER 26, 2012 – A study found several benefits in using the radial artery in the arm as the entry point for angioplasty or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) compared to the femoral artery in the leg. Results of the STEMI-RADIAL trial were presented today at the 24th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine.
Recent data have demonstrated better clinical ...
Nanotechnology helps scientists keep silver shiny
2012-10-27
There are thousands of silver artifacts in museum collections around the world, and keeping them shiny is a constant challenge. So scientists are using new technology to give conservators a helping hand. A team of researchers led by Ray Phaneuf, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, has partnered with The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore to investigate less labor-intensive ways to protect silver artifacts from tarnishing. The new techniques, which might keep silver surfaces shiny for longer than traditional methods, ...
Scientists build 'nanobowls' to protect catalysts needed for better biofuel production
2012-10-27
It may sound like a post-season football game for very tiny players, but the "nanobowl" has nothing to do with sports and everything to do with improving the way biofuels are produced. That's the hope of a team of scientists from the Institute for Atom Efficient Chemical Transformations (IACT), an Energy Frontier Research Center led by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), and including Northwestern University, the University of Wisconsin and Purdue University. The team is using a layering technique developed for microchip manufacturing to build nanoscale (billionth of a meter) ...
Scientists demonstrate high-efficiency quantum dot solar cells
2012-10-27
Research shows newly developed solar powered cells may soon outperform conventional photovoltaic technology. Scientists from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have demonstrated the first solar cell with external quantum efficiency (EQE) exceeding 100 percent for photons with energies in the solar range. (The EQE is the percentage of photons that get converted into electrons within the device.) The researchers will present their findings at the AVS 59th International Symposium and Exhibition, held Oct. 28 — Nov. 2, in Tampa, Fla.
While traditional semiconductors ...
Princess by proxy: When child beauty pageants aren't about the kids
2012-10-27
As child reality TV star Honey Boo Boo continues to capture the attention of audiences with her boisterous personality and her own show about life on the child beauty pageant circuit, a new paper published today in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry takes a critical look at the very types of pageants in which she and thousands of other children compete in America every year.
The paper, authored by Martina M. Cartwright, a registered dietician and adjunct professor in the University of Arizona's department of nutritional sciences, suggests ...
Scientists use molecular layers to study nanoscale heat transfer
2012-10-27
Scientific research has provided us with a fundamental understanding of how light (via photons) and electricity (via electrons) move within and between materials at the micrometer or nanometer levels, making possible a wide variety of miniature devices such as transistors, optical sensors and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). However, man's knowledge of micro- and nanoscale heat flow is rudimentary at best. Now, a research team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has developed a novel system for examining and measuring nanoscale thermal conductance ...
Next-generation antireflection coatings could improve solar photovoltaic cell efficiency
2012-10-27
Photovoltaic cell efficiency may soon get a big boost, thanks to next-generation antireflection coatings crafted from nanomaterials capable of cutting down on the amount of light reflected away from a cell's surface.
Materials boasting a "tunable" refractive index have been developed within the past few years, and they show tremendous potential for photovoltaic applications. Professor E. Fred Schubert, of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, is investigating ways to exploit this newly gained controllability and ...
Solving stem cell mysteries
2012-10-27
Baltimore, MD— The ability of embryonic stem cells to differentiate into different types of cells with different functions is regulated and maintained by a complex series of chemical interactions, which are not well understood. Learning more about this process could prove useful for stem cell-based therapies down the road. New research from a team led by Carnegie's Yixian Zheng zeroes in on the process by which stem cells maintain their proper undifferentiated state. Their results are published in Cell October 26.
Embryonic stem cells go through a process called self-renewal, ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
NYUAD researchers find link between brain growth and mental health disorders
Aging-related inflammation is not universal across human populations, new study finds
University of Oregon to create national children’s mental health center with $11 million federal grant
Rare achievement: UTA undergrad publishes research
Fact or fiction? The ADHD info dilemma
Genetic ancestry linked to risk of severe dengue
Genomes reveal the Norwegian lemming as one of the youngest mammal species
Early birds get the burn: Monash study finds early bedtimes associated with more physical activity
Groundbreaking analysis provides day-by-day insight into prehistoric plankton’s capacity for change
Southern Ocean saltier, hotter and losing ice fast as decades-long trend unexpectedly reverses
Human fishing reshaped Caribbean reef food webs, 7000-year old exposed fossilized reefs reveal
Killer whales, kind gestures: Orcas offer food to humans in the wild
Hurricane ecology research reveals critical vulnerabilities of coastal ecosystems
Montana State geologist’s Antarctic research focuses on accumulations of rare earth elements
Groundbreaking cancer therapy clinical trial with US Department of Energy’s accelerator-produced actinium-225 set to begin this summer
Tens of thousands of heart attacks and strokes could be avoided each year if cholesterol-lowering drugs were used according to guidelines
Leading cancer and metabolic disease expert Michael Karin joins Sanford Burnham Prebys
Low-intensity brain stimulation may restore neuron health in Alzheimer's disease
Four-day school week may not be best for students, review finds
Using music to explore the dynamics of emotions
How the brain supports social processing as people age
Túngara frog tadpoles that grew up in the city developed faster but ended up being smaller
Where there’s fire, there’s smoke
UCLA researchers uncover key mechanism of brain repair in vascular dementia, revealing promising therapeutic target
Why Human empathy still matters in the age of AI
COVID-19 and cognitive change in a community-based cohort
Intent to test for COVID-19 in the postpandemic era
Landmark study investigates potential of Ambroxol, a cough medicine, to slow Parkinson’s-related dementia
Finding suggests treatment approach for autoimmune diseases
A new “link” to triple-negative breast cancer
[Press-News.org] Distracted Driving Remains a Major Threat in Los AngelesAccording to a study by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration distracted driving plays a role in 80 percent of U.S. traffic crashes.