February 6, 2018 — FairWarning: “To combat distracted driving deaths, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA]…published a 24-page guide outlining the best methods to win convictions…Safety advocates and researchers say tougher penalties alone aren’t likely to get drivers to put down their phones. But as with drunk driving a generation ago, they say, stiffer penalties could reduce the reckless behavior, if the tougher punishment is combined with education programs, peer pressure and technology… ‘Part of the challenge,’ said Jay Winsten, associate dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, ‘is that there is no stigma connected or associated with a distracted driving offense. There’s no shame.’…Public attitudes tended to be similarly blasé toward drunk driving until the 1980s…But then the newly formed Mothers Against Drunk Driving [MADD] stepped in and drew widespread attention to the deadly problem. By swaying public opinion, MADD helped win tougher legal sanctions, higher drinking ages in some states and highlighted such alternatives as designated drivers…Yet no matter how thorough the criminal investigation…distracted driving is a far tougher nut to crack than drunk driving…Winning tougher sanctions also requires some legislators, litigators, judges and juries to ignore their own behavior. As Harvard’s Winsten put it: ‘There but for the grace of God go I — am I really prepared to send someone to jail?'”
Read the FairWarning article by Paul Feldman
Center for Health Communication
