This is hardly news to the National Transportation Safety Board which released a report in December which showed that fatal crashes caused by distracted driving now outpaced the number of crashes caused by driving drunk. But the US study focused primarily on college aged drivers; those whom many consider to be the highest risk group for distracted driving.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles is working with colleges around the state to help get a message through to college students that their behaviors behind the wheel might be the biggest impediment to their graduation.

Nearly 5,000 students from University of California San Diego, San Diego State University, University of San Diego, CSU San Marcos and eight smaller colleges in the region completed the study. The average age was 21 years old; 66 percent female; 83 percent were undergraduates; 17 percent graduates.

Distracted driving behaviors

78 percent reported driving while using a cell phone (talking or texting)
52 percent reported using hands-free devices at least some of the time
47 percent said they use hands-free at least 50 percent of the time
Only 25 percent used hands free with high frequency
50 percent said they send texts while driving on freeway
60 percent said they send texts while in stop-and-go traffic or in city streets
87 percent send texts while at traffic lights
Only 12 percent said they never text, not even at a traffic light

There were five motorcycle mounted police officers and four patrol cars involved in the crack down which was meant to coincide with Distracted Driving Month (April.)

Police in Manhattan Beach are calling the stepped up enforcement campaign a big success and say it is likely they will continue to aggressively enforce California distracted driving laws. In light of a recent report by the National Transportation Safety Board that distracted driving is now the single most common cause of traffic fatalities, it seems likely this stepped-up enforcement will continue for some time.

The focused enforcement is part of MBPD’s participation in Distracted Driving Month, as traffic patrol jurisdictions raise awareness in California during April, said Mason.

Mason wrote 26 of the April 18 citations and said that five motorcycle officers joined four patrol cars in the enforcement on April 18.

“We’ve always paid attention to it [distracted driving],” said Mason on Friday. He said that drivers should drive with both hands free at all times. He said that drivers don’t always know that it’s illegal to take their eyes off the road to hit a button to answer a cell phone or to look at an email or text message.

On April 3, another special enforcement day in light of Distracted Driving Month, one patrol car and four motorcycle officers provided enforcement.

A change to the existing California Child Passenger Safety Seat law now requires that all children ride in either a booster seat or car seat until they are 8 years old, or reach a minimum height of 4 feet 9 inches. Also, if the child is not a required minimum height they must ride in the back seat of the vehicle, if a backseat is available and not already occupied by children under the age of 8. Children who are one year, weigh less than 20 pounds, or are riding in a rear facing child safety seat are still forbidden from riding in the front seat if the vehicle has an active passenger side airbag system.

First a new section was added to the existing driving code addressing those convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol. Section 23579 was added to the California Vehicle Code and allows courts to revoke a driver’s license for 10 years if a person is convicted of three or more DUIs. This law was originally passed in 2010 and allows a driver to apply for a reinstatement of driving privileges with California Department of Motor Vehicles after five years if they installed an Ignition Interlock Device in their vehicle. The new law allows the DMV to terminate the restricted license if the IID requirements are not met.

Also, drivers are now required to stop and submit to a sobriety checkpoint operated by police, however, police are prohibited from impounding a vehicle for 30 days if the driver’s only offense at the checkpoint if failing to hold a driving license. The law also requires officers to make a reasonable attempt to locate the rightful registered owner of the vehicle in order to release it to them.

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month and police in California and across the country are making distracted drivers their focus. Last December the National Transportation Safety Board said that distracted driving accounted for more fatal crashes in the United States than deaths caused by drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The NTSB report came with a recommendation that all states immediately enact a complete ban on the use of handheld devices by drivers. Some states reacted positively, quickly pushing legislation through which completely or partially banned the use of these devices, but that is only part of the story.

Drivers do not need to be using a cell phone or updating their Facebook status to be distracted. Anyone who has ever traveled on a U.S. highway has likely been witness to other drivers doing such strange things as putting on make-up, shaving or even reading a newspaper. All of these things count as distracted driving and police are now focusing their attention on distractions which are less obvious.

All but 15 states now have some form of distracted driving law in place and fines vary from $50 to $150. Police in these states now have the authority to stop drivers who they see are distracted, either by cell phone or some other action. Before the new laws went into effect police had to actually witness someone driving in an erratic manner before they were permitted to stop them. Now, even if the driver is driving perfectly well, if they appear to engaged in an activity other than driving, police have the power, and the justification, to stop them and issue a citation.

A December report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicated that distracted driving, specifically the use of handheld devices for texting and talking, was currently the single largest contributor of vehicle crashes in the United States, surpassing even crashes caused by driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. The NHTSA used their report to add weight to their recommendation that all states pass comprehensive bans on the use of handheld devices  by drivers. This recommendation has been met with support from some states, and much resistance by law makers in other states. So far, 36 states, including California, limit the use of handheld devices by drivers, while states such as Texas and Indiana continue to have no such laws on the books.

California was one of the first states to address the issue of the drivers using handheld devices when they were behind the wheel. When lawmakers first proposed the legislation some citizens spoke out, complaining the ban was an infringement on their personal liberties. Of course, all defensive drivers know that dying behind the wheel of your car because you didn’t see what was right in front of you is the biggest infringement on your personal liberty that there is.

The base fine for being caught driving with a phone in your hand is only $20, but this has been enough of a deterrent to save numerous lives. According to the COTS, between 70 and 80 lives were saved because of the ban, and about 5,000 injuries were prevented in the first two years of the law. The COTS study only looked at crashes where the driver was using a cellphone, so it is difficult to know whether there have been even more positive effects as a result, but for now, good news is still good news.

According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, starting January 1 of 2012, judges can order a 10-year driver license revocation for any California motorist convicted of a third or subsequent DUI violation. It is possible you may qualify for reinstatement of your driving privileges after five years if you meet certain prearranged conditions, but five years without a license is still a long time.

That’s a full decade of no driving privileges, folks. How are you going to get to work? How are you going to get to the grocery store? Who will drive your kids to school or pick them up?

If you try to drive again, with a revoked license, you could end up getting another 10-year revocation, or even, in worst cases a lifetime suspension of driving privileges. Then what would you do to get around?

Defensive drivers understand the dangers of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. They know the effect alcohol or drugs can have on their ability to react to hazards or even make a good judgement call about when to make a turn.

There is never a good time to get behind the wheel drunk or under the influence of drugs. You are always much better off arranging for a safe ride home before you go out at night. Using a designated driver if you are in a group is also an acceptable idea. But getting behind the wheel drunk is not.

In California, if you risk driving while under the influence of any mind-altering substance you not only risk your driving privileges, you risk your life as well.

Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

California is not alone in its disdain and intolerance of drivers who get behind the wheel intoxicated. Although much focus recently has been on the dangers of distracted driving, driving under the influence of alcohol is still just as dangerous as it has always been. Drivers who are intoxicated suffer from poor judgement, slower reflexes and an inability to operate a vehicle safely. These facts have never changed, even in light of the new dangers of distracted driving.

In California is you are on a court ordered probation for a DUI infraction you will immediately have your license suspended. The length of that suspension is determined by a few specific things, including how intoxicated you might be and whether or not you agree to be tested for alcohol.

Specifically, the California Department of Motor Vehicles says that while on a court order probation for DUI for test positive for alcohol at .01% or greater you will receive a mandatory one year suspension. If you “refuse or fail to submit to a PAS test or other chemical test,” you will received a two year suspension of your driving privileges and if you “refuse or fail to submit to a PAS test or other chemical test, and you have two or more prior DUI convictions,” you will receive a three year suspension.

At the officers discretion it is possible you can receive citations for each of the above in which case the times of suspension will be compounded.

Oh, and if you are dumb enough to drive under the influence while on court order probation for a DUI offense, you will not be eligible for a hardship license, or restricted license, while serving your suspension.

The best way to avoid a suspended license in California is to not drive drunk. You can attend a traffic school to remove the points from your license, but you’ll still be suspended for months.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Yes, Automated, robotic cars without drivers. On the roads.

Google says the new cars are safe and can be programmed to avoid collisions, dangerous driving, traffic congestion and other hazards on the roadways. These autonomous vehicles can limit human error, increase fuel efficiency and decrease emissions, simply by being better drivers than their human counterparts. So far their automated vehicles have logged over 200,000 miles without a single crash. They are still testing the cars and there is no rush to get them on the market, but the future seems pretty certain: Driverless cars are coming.

The question facing lawmakers now is how to handle these new cars, if (or rather when) they become a reality.

Last week the Law Review and High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University conducted a day long symposium to discuss the ramifications of having either all automated cars on the roadways or a mix of some driverless cars and some cars with human drivers. Among the questions they debated were liability in the event of a crash, or a traffic infraction. Does the cop write the computer a traffic ticket or the cars owner, or the programmer?

Last year became the first state allow driverless cars on public roads. That means automated cars can now take to the streets in Nevada, although nobody has one yet. Florida and Hawaii are in the process of debating the issue and California is poised to add its name to the list of states where automated vehicles would be street legal.

Proponents of the technology say the automated cars will make the streets safer, reduce congestion, improve fuel efficiency and give the United States a technological lead in automotive manufacturing. Opponents of the idea say the streets are dangerous with people behind the wheel. Adding driverless cars to the mix will only make things worse.

For now, the technology is still not where it needs to be for automated cars to start showing up on showroom lots. But it’s only a matter of time until they do.

Image: jiggoja / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

One of these laws specifically concerns the safety of children who regularly travel our highways though not usually behind the wheel. (There are separate laws to handle kids who drive illegally.)

Under the new law children under the age of 8 will now require a booster seat while riding in a vehicle, unless they meet a certain minimum height requirement. The law is meant to ensure that seat belt straps fit properly across the child’s chest, rather than across their neck, which is what happens when they are too low in the seat. If the child is 4 feet 9 inches tall and at least 6 years of age they can forget the booster seat only because the seat belt strap should fit them properly. If the seat belt strap is too high, in the event the vehicle stops short (either because it hit something o if the driver jams on the brakes) the strap could possibly cause a neck injury or even choke the child strapped in.

It is anticipated that the new law will impact more than one million children in California who have been going without a booster seat these past several years. The law was vetoed twice by former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who said he believed it was up to the parent to decide whether or not their child needed a booster seat.

But the experts believed differently and research shows they are right.

Under the new law drivers who violate the law face a nearly $500 fine for putting their child at risk. They might also pay more in fines for repeat offenses or flagrant disregard for the law.

California traffic school online can help you learn about the real dangers you face behind the wheel from distracted drivers, drunk drivers and just general roadway hazards. If you are the only one in your vehicle that’s one thing, but when you have kids on board you need to think about their safety too.

And you shouldn’t need a traffic school to tell you it’s important to keep your children safe.

Image: David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This is good news for anyone who already practices defensive driving.

The new law went into effect January 1, 2012, and is expected to impact nearly 4 million commercial drivers in the state, preventing them from texting or using their cell phone while driving. This includes bus and truck drivers as well as cabbies and other commercial vehicle operators.

This new law comes on the heels of a recommendation by the National transportation Safety Board last month calling for every state to ban drivers from using any and all handheld devices. According to the NTSB, distracted driving brought about by the increased use of handheld devices by drivers, either texting or talking, is the single most dangerous mistake made on highways around the country.The NTSB is suggesting states ban the use of handheld devices by all drivers except emergency workers, during an emergency.

Already several states and cities have similar bans, some more or less severe.

Another new safe driving related law in California that begins this year requires children be secured in a car seat until they are either 8-years-old or taller than 4 feet 9 inches tall. This is an increase of two years in age and a minimum weight of 60 pounds under the previous laws. Drivers who ignore this new law face a fine of at least $475 per offense, though it is unclear to us why any driver would violate the law and risk the life of a child just as a matter of convenience.

Distracted driving has been a contributing cause of fatal traffic accidents in almost all cases, and the number has been growing as the use of cell phones and other portable handheld communication devices have been increasing. The ultimate effect on the handheld devices ban will take time to track, but in places where a ban has already been enacted, the rate of distracted driving crashes has shown a marked decline.

California traffic school is a great place to learn about the severe consequences of distracted driving, including the loss of your license or even your life or freedom. But why wait until it’s too late? Put down the phone and drive, and increase your chance of getting to your destination safe and sound.

Californians who had been waiting for their ship to come in before paying some overdue traffic tickets got an early Christmas present in 2012. California Legislative Assembly Bill 1358 allowed for a one-time, 50 percent reduction if the outstanding tickets were paid between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2012. The offer was good in all 58 counties.

Let’s face it, times are tough all over and unpaid traffic citations are probably not at the top of your list of priorities especially if you’re unemployed or under-employed, or just low on cash. The state of California itself has been facing its own share of economic struggles, so the decision to offer this half-off amnesty made good sense to legislators who were hoping it results in a much-needed cash infusion.

You might still have had to attend online traffic school, and the amnesty wasn’t good for everyone or every traffic violation, but standard speeding citations were included. And traffic school is probably a good idea if you haven’t been in a awhile. It can help you be a better defensive driver and keep those points from accumulating on your license.

So, if you live in California, and you had unpaid traffic citations, we hope you took advantage of the one-time only amnesty. Online traffic school in California is quick and easy. You just might save yourself a lot of money.

Drivers with points on their licenses can go to traffic school, but the courts will no longer dismiss infractions against them.

In the past, when courts dismissed an infraction, the driver had his or her record cleared and the DMV had no clear picture of the driver’s actual history.

With the new guidelines, drivers who attend a traffic school defensive driving course will have their first conviction masked and not receive negative marks on their driving record, according to the DMV.  But, if they commit additional violations within an 18-month period, the convictions will appear on the driver’s record, negligent operator points will be assigned and the person’s insurance company will be notified.

Traffic School Expert Says Change Puts “Teeth in an Old Law”

Gary Alexander, national traffic school expert and the owner of the Improv Traffic School, which offers both classroom and online classes, said it is not really a new law, “but one that puts teeth in an old law.”

In the past, the law had provisions that allowed judges more discretion on the frequency in which a driver could go to traffic school. “Not every court was connected. Courts did not communicate with each other,” said Alexander. “So someone with a violation in Los Angeles County might not be stopped from going to traffic school for a violation in Orange County.”

Alexander said the new law was part of a larger package that also gave the DMV better control of traffic schools themselves. It will close a gap in the way traffic infractions are handled that allowed for repeat offenders to “get around” the system and continually take traffic school to wipe their records clean.

In addition, traffic schools will not mask convictions if they are for major violations such as driving under the influence or reckless driving, or the driver has a commercial driver’s license or was operating a commercial vehicle at the time of the offense.

CHP Officer Larry Hockman with the Coastal Division said officers are hoping the new law will have an effect on repeat offenders and make the roads safer.

Hopefully, more people will think twice knowing they are no longer able to go to traffic school more than once in an 18-month period. Because of the change in the law, the court will now know whether or not a driver has attended traffic school in the recent past.

ATTENTION CALIFORNIA DRIVERS

Traffic School Rule Change – Court Dismissal Changing to Conviction

Traffic School New Policy Effective July 1, 2011, California courts must report traffic safety violations as convictions. If the driver is eligible and completes a Traffic Violator School (TVS) course, the conviction will be masked on the driver record. The driver record will be checked to determine a driver’s eligibility to participate in a traffic school course.

A TVS conviction will not be masked if: • There is a prior TVS dismissal/conviction within the previous 18 months. • The conviction is a major (2 point) violation. • The driver holds a commercial driver license or was operating a commercial vehicle, at the time of the violation. A traffic school abstract of conviction will be the basis for assignment of negligent operator points on a person’s driving record.

Background The courts currently offer a driver cited for a traffic safety violation the option to attend a traffic school. When a driver completes the course, the court dismisses the violation and reports the dismissal to the DMV, preventing negligent operator points from being assigned, and the abstract from being the basis for suspension, revocation, or commercial disqualification actions.

What does it mean? – Many courts used to allow drivers to attend traffic school more than once every 18 month.  This option is now taken away from the courts and will be regulated by the DMV.   Courts also will not have an option to refer a defendant to traffic school for a more serious violation like DUI, Reckless Driving Etc.

Effective immediately, if you do not stop at the red light, be ready to pay $436 in fines, or if you pass a school bus with flashing red signals, you will be charged $616…fines are going up.

Just for your information, the next time you park in the handicapped zone, even for a minute, you will be looking at almost $1,000 in parking tickets, so it’d better be worth it.

Traffic fines was always a good source for state revenue and California needs money more than ever.

See California Traffic Ticket Fines Table
.Note that traffic school does not reduce your fine.  In most cases attending traffic school costs more than a base fine.  The main advantage is that you mask your points from your insurance company and your driver record.

Attention California Drivers!

All good things must come to an end, and it’s the same for California’s HOV-Lane access perk for owners of three hybrids:  the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid, and Honda Insight. If reauthorization is not granted by the Federal Highway Administration, use of these stickers will expire. Currently, the use of Clean Air Stickers for hybrids (yellow stickers) is only good through July 1, 2011. The white stickers for SULEV, ILEV, and certain ULEV vehicles will still be good through January 1, 2015.
Originally passed in 2005, the law opened California’s high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, originally restricted to carpools, to a limited number of very low-emission vehicles even if there was just a single person in the car.

The law’s goal was to give buyers an incentive to trade in their old cars for a far more fuel-efficient (any year),Honda Civic Hybrid(any year), or original Honda Insight (1999-2006).

85,000 stickers only

And it worked. California set the number of stickers at 75,000, and they were all allocated in less than a year. A further allotment of 10,000 was similarly snapped up at the start of 2007. Though the process was cumbersome, the stickers cost just $8 each.

Last year, Audatex (which automates insurance-claim processing) calculated that a used hybrid with a permit was worth $1,200 to $1,500 more than one without. With the end in sight, we expect that value would be substantially lower today.

No longer for sale

Federal highway officials say congestion in carpool lanes is increasing throughout California. Ending access for single-occupancy vehicles would speed the ride for more people–trading off incremental gains in fuel efficiency and air quality for moving more vehicles.

Other Prius perks in peril?

Prius Perks offered to drivers of high-mileage. As we noted last summer, in what became the single best-read article of our entire year’s most popular posts, those perks are now also in peril from technology change.

In years to come, such privileges may be transferred from increasingly common hybrids to the newer class of plug-in vehicles, which run some of their miles using grid power rather than any gasoline at all. Examples are the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid, and the 2012 Nissan Leaf.

Remember that you can’t go to traffic school for HOV lane violations, and fines are pretty steep.

• For More Information On AZ Emissions Testing – What You Need to Know, Click: AZ Emissions Testing – What You Need to Know