Having the government in New Jersey recognizing a short term failure to keep our roads safer than previous years by putting the responsibility on other drivers to turn in 'distracted drivers' is absurd.  It's also potentially dangerous and may have terrible unintended consequences. Radio tuner, advertisements, looking for your next turn, all contribute to distracted driving.  Despite the many ways drivers can be distracted according to the actual statistics offered by NJ to justify the new rules, show that only 10% of fatal crashes involved a distracted driver.  This all points to the failure of the state to properly address  the real killers on the roads, speed and drunkenness top the fatality list, by a lot.

If we're gonna address distracted driving, how about in a pro-active positive way?  Why not teach young drivers how to drive amidst all the distractions that will plague you while driving?  I am a firm believer that all new drivers be trained on a manual transmission and distracted while taking the driving portion of the test.  It's a great disservice to drivers that new drivers are trained in 'ideal' conditions with cones.

 According to statistics from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, so-called distracted driving accounts for only 10 percent of traffic fatalities. Despite years of policing and law changes drunk driving and speed still top the charts.  I suspect that this is government punting on the responsibility empowering other drivers to snitch on their fellow commuters. In 2015, 3,477 people were killed as a result of 'distraction'. Compare that to the nearly 9500 killed as a result of speeding.  AND the more than 10,000 killed in drunk driving accidents.  Beyond that the numbers reported by insurance agencies show that only a small percentage of the distracted crashes involve cell phones.  That means, drivers are easily distracted by a number of other factors.  How about instead of snitching on drivers we train them to cope with actual road conditions?!?

Government should focus resources on the big threats to drivers.  As far as distraction, it's about training and coping, not about enforcement.

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