Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Some states outlaw the hand-held use of cellphones while driving.īusiness Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world.
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It is often linked to smartphone use, such as texting or emailing while at the wheel, but drivers sometimes read books or put on makeup. The Kiefer Foundation is dedicated to his son, Mitchel, who was killed at age 18 in 2016 when a distracted driver rear-ended his car on a highway in Michigan.ĭistracted driving stems from activities that take drivers’ hands from the steering wheel, draw their eyes away from the road or divert their attention from the driving task. “I think the number’s closer to 50 per cent,” Kiefer said. But he and other safety experts believe the actual figure is much higher because, they say, crash investigations often overlook distraction while naming other causes, such as reckless driving. That was up 18.4 per cent from the first half of 2020, and the highest total since 2006.ĭriver inattention is officially cited as the cause of about 10 percent of traffic deaths, said Steve Kiefer, a senior General Motors executive who also heads a foundation dedicated to combating distracted driving. In the first six months of this year, 20,160 people died in traffic crashes, according to estimates from the Department of Transportation. Tesla and its chief executive, Elon Musk, did not respond to several emails asking about the new video games and whether they could jeopardize safety.ĭistracted driving is a major cause of the rising number of traffic deaths in the United States. Adkins said the addition of video games “is crying out for NHTSA to provide some guidance and regulation.” The combination of hands-free driving and drivers’ looking away from the road has been connected to at least 12 traffic deaths since 2016 in Tesla cars that were operating in Autopilot mode, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. And it lacks an effective means of ensuring that drivers keep their eyes on the road.
Tesla’s Autopilot system, which can steer, slow and accelerate a car on its own, has for several years faced criticism from safety experts because it allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel for extended periods, even though they are not supposed to. “It’s a big concern if it plays in view of the driver, for sure,” said Jonathan Adkins, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, which coordinates state efforts to promote safe driving. They can be played by a driver or by a passenger in full view of the driver, raising fresh questions about whether Tesla is compromising safety as it rushes to add new technologies and features in its cars.
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The automaker added the games in an over-the-air software update that was sent to most of its cars this summer.