Do not text while driving: IMA On the road, off the phone

Do not text while driving: IMA
On the road, off the phone

New Delhi, 10nd April, 2015: Taking your eyes off the road – even for a few seconds – can cost life
Do not text while driving as it can be as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol said Padma Shri Awardee Dr A Marthanda Pillai National President and Padma Shri Awardee Dr KK Aggarwal Honorary Secretary General IMA and President Heart Care Foundation of India. Texting while driving is the act of composing, sending, reading text messages, email, or making other similar use of the web on a mobile phone while operating a motor vehicle.
Some statistics
· As per US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration : Driver distraction is the cause of 18 percent of all fatal crashes
· Forty percent of all American teens say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put people in danger
· Virginia Tech Transportation Institute: Text messaging creates a crash risk 23 times worse than driving while not distracted. Eleven percent of drivers aged 18 to 20 who are involved in an automobile accident and survived were sending or receiving texts when they crashed.
· Hand held phone: In the US 14 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands prohibit all drivers from using “hand-held cell phones” while driving.
· All cell phone use: No state bans ” all cell phone use” for all drivers, but 38 states and D.C. ban all cell phone use by novice drivers, and 20 states and D.C. prohibit it for school bus drivers.
· Text Messaging: Washington was the first state to pass a texting ban in 2007. Currently, 45 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands ban text messaging for all drivers.
· In India a phone offender can be booked under Section 184 of the Motor Vehicles Act-1988, and punished with a jail term extending up to six months and a fine of Rs 1,000.

Section 184 in The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988: Driving dangerously.—Whoever drives a motor vehicle at a speed or in a manner which is dangerous to the public, having regard to all the circumstances of the case including the nature, condition and use of the place where the vehicle is driven and the amount of traffic which actually is at the time or which might reasonably be expected to be in the place, shall be punishable for the first offence with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, and for any second or subsequent offence if committed within three years of the commission of a previous similar offence with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees, or with both.
• Using mobile phone while driving a vehicle: Rule 21 (25) of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules read with Section 177 of the MV Act. punishment: Rs. 100 for first offence and Rs. 300 for second or subsequent offences.