NU Online News Service, Sept. 17, 3:17 p.m. EDT
The Department of Transportation will hold a "distracted drivers" summit Tuesday in Washington as a follow-up to an initial summit last year that insurers credit with helping bring down auto deaths caused by inattentive drivers.
"This year's agenda features a terrific range of panels and speakers that should help us make a bigger dent in the deadly epidemic of distraction," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said last week in his official blog.
The events will include a live webcast that the government is encouraging schools and young people to listen to.
The American Insurance Association (AIA) is amongst the groups participating in the summit.
David Snyder, AIA vice president and associate general counsel, said that this "is a piece of the much larger good news story of historically low motor vehicle crash death and injuries.
He said that insurers' greatest contribution "was leaving the [previous] summit and [carrying] the issue into every state capital, where we saw bills introduced in virtually every state and enactment in a dozen or more of provisions that would clamp down on distracted driving."
Mr. Snyder said the newly enacted laws do this primarily by preventing texting while operating a motor vehicle.
"The Obama administration at the national level set the tone at the time, launching a strong effort that helped create momentum behind this initiative," Mr. Snyder said.
"But the reason why there have been laws enacted at the state level is the work of insurance representatives, along with coalition partners, including advocates of auto safety and medical groups, that are active in state capitals on a regular basis," Mr. Snyder said.
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