California Today: Cracking Down on Distracted Driving
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Let’s turn it over to Jonah Engel Bromwich for today’s introduction.
A California law that went into effect on Sunday barring drivers from holding phones while operating vehicles is among the most stringent in the nation.
But experts say that it most likely won’t be enough to prevent accidents caused by distracted driving.
Jennifer Ryan, AAA’s director of state relations, cautioned in a phone interview on Thursday that, “hands free is not risk free.”
Ms. Ryan said the California measure matched a larger trend of states bringing legislation up-to-date with contemporary phones. But while the state’s provisions were particularly broad, she said, it was important for motorists to take responsibility for themselves and pay attention.
The law goes beyond what federal authorities recommend to prevent distracted driving, which remains a significant cause of traffic fatalities. The latest statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that more than 3,400 people died in 2015 in crashes that involved a distracted driver. Of those, 272 were teenagers.
And while the use of smartphones is certainly part of the problem, many are unconvinced that keeping them out of drivers’ hands will be a panacea.
Some have speculated that the California law may encourage enthusiasm for self-driving cars. When Gov. Jerry Brown signed the measure into law in September, he approved of another bill that allowed for the first tests of autonomous driving vehicles on public roads.
Steve Finnegan, the government affairs manager of the Automobile Club of Southern California, said that while the new legislation “is a step in the right direction,” it does not address “the complete issue of distracted driving.”
“One of the bigger issues is cognitive distraction,” Mr. Finnegan said. “It’s not what your hands are doing; it’s what your brain is doing.”
California Online
(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have metered paywalls.)
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And Finally ...
Boats bobbing in the marina, a shimmering blue bay, the echoing calls of seabirds.
Sausalito, a tiny waterfront community just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, is an inspiring place.
So it was, many summers ago, that Otis Redding stayed on a houseboat there and came up with the first idea for an American classic.
It was this weekend in 1968 that Mr. Redding’s “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay” was released.
According to Jonathan Gould, the author of a forthcoming biography of Mr. Redding, the rock promoter Bill Graham offered Mr. Redding the use of his houseboat up in Sausalito.
While relaxing there with his guitar, he is thought to have sketched the lines:
Sittin’ in the mornin’ sunI’ll be sittin’ when the evenin’ comeWatching the ships roll inAnd then I watch ’em roll away again, yeah
Later, the guitarist Steve Cropper helped to fill out the rest of the song and it was recorded in November. But Mr. Redding never heard the single.
Just 18 days after the studio session, he died in a plane crash in Madison, Wis., on Dec. 10, 1967.
He was 26.
On Jan. 8, 1968, the “Dock of the Bay” album was released. The single rose to No. 1 on Billboard’s pop chart and stayed there for four weeks. It was the biggest hit of Mr. Redding’s career.
California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.
The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a third-generation Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter.
California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U.C. Berkeley.
P.C: http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/us/california-today-distracted-driving-law.html
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