Distracted Driving

A new video shows teenage drivers engaging in dangerous behavior.

Texting while driving is still a major problem, apparently.

Question: If your cellphone buzzes with an SMS message while you're driving, what do you do? Choose from: a) Ignore it and read it later when you stop b) Take a glance, just to see who it is; or c) Read it, reply, check your Facebook and plow through the window of your local 7-Eleven. If you...

Every day in the United States, some 10 people are killed and 1,100 injured in crashes relating to distracted driving. While those are the official tallies released by the Department of Transportation, the actual number is likely much higher; after all, few drivers will admit that they didn’t...

In 2010, 3,092 people died in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver, while some 416,000 were injured in crashes involving driver distraction. Traveling at 55 mph, a driver covers some 300 yards, blind, in the 4.6 seconds it takes to send the average text. Those numbers aren’t...

According to researchers at India’s Anna University of Technology, up to 20-percent of fatal traffic accidents involving trucks or heavy commercial vehicles may be linked back to driver cell phone usage. That’s a global number, not one specific to India, and the threat of fines and...

Of the five senses that the human body is equipped with, sight and sound are the primary ones used behind the wheel of a car. You could argue that touch comes into play as well, since most vehicles now come equipped with steering-wheel-mounted audio, telephone and cruise control buttons, too. That...

Distracted driving is bad, mmmkay? Driving tired is no better, and any time you spend with your eyes off the road is time taken away from reacting in a potentially life-threatening scenario. Carmakers have been on the case for a few years now, with technology aimed at minimizing distracted driving...

We've reviewed a number of smartphone apps that read texts aloud to drivers -- apps like DriveSafe.ly, PhoneGuard, and SafeCell -- but we've seen very few text-to-speech applications from automakers themselves. Ford is a notable exception. Through its popular Sync infotainment system, Ford recently...

If you were born some time between the 1970s and the mid 1990s you're what's known as "Generation Y", and new research has shown that you're much more likely to be stressed behind the wheel than your "Baby Boomer" predecessors. The survey was conducted by Galaxy Research, on 1,010 people across...

You can call U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood many things, but "slouch" isn't on the list. At a time when computing and social media are expanding to fill every corner of our daily lives, LaHood is pushing back, urging automakers to limit the technology included in new cars. Not only...

Google has been hitting the headlines pretty hard the past couple of days. Its Android operating system is still hammering the smartphone market, its new music service is causing a commotion, and the company is prepping to settle a hush-hush Justice Department investigation into its advertising...

A 46-year-old New Jersey woman was injured last Saturday when she drove her car into a tree--while dialing 911 to report an erratic driver. The accident occurred in Toms River, during daylight hours, and police would only say that the crash is under investigation. The driver’s condition, as...

If you're the sort of person who's tempted to take calls while driving -- or worse, answer text messages -- there are dozens of apps to help curb your addition. Now, Sprint is making the process even easier by pre-installing the Drive First app on every Android phone. Drive First works like many...

There are lots of gizmos on the market -- gizmos designed to meet the needs of nearly every consumer. And yet, a handful of consumers are never satisfied. They take matters into their own hands, poking, prodding, and modding until they get what they want, just as they've done for millennia. Now...

Over the past few months, we've seen a number of smartphone apps designed to curb distracted driving -- namely, SafeCell, PhoneGuard, and Mashable's mobile app of the year, DriveSafe.ly. Now a nationwide carrier has joined the fray: T-Mobile, with its DriveSmart service. Of the various apps...

We don't know for sure what caused Dr. Frank Ryan's 1995 Jeep Wrangler to hurtle off the Pacific Coast Highway and down a cliff on Monday afternoon. We do know, however, that he didn't survive the crash. We also know that he was tweeting moments earlier. That doesn't sound good. Thankfully, Ryan's...