Congress to hold hearings on distracted driving

Contact your Senators and Representatives today!

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation and the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Highways and Transit of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will hold separate hearings on combating distracted driving on October 28 and 29, respectively.

The Chairman of the Senate hearing has called U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski as witnesses. The House hearing currently has no witnesses scheduled.

The AMA is encouraged to learn that this Committee and Subcommittee, by holding hearings, acknowledges the dangers attributed to distracted driving, and places a priority on finding practical and fair solutions for all road users, including motorcyclists. Therefore, motorcyclists should be included whenever developing technologies are discussed. This issue greatly affects the motorcycle community, and bringing awareness to it may prevent crashes from occurring in the first place, and thereby reduce the likelihood of injury to all of America's roadway users.

The increasing numbers of motorcycle crashes caused by distracted drivers have spurred action from the motorcycle community. The AMA recently released a position statement addressing the issue of distracted and inattentive vehicle operation. In our statement, we acknowledged and emphasized the primary responsibility of all roadway users is the safe operation of their vehicles, regardless of the source - behavioral or technological -- of the distraction. To see AMA's full position statement on distracted and inattentive vehicle operation, please click here.

The AMA has been active in the discussions of distracted driving. The Association was invited and recently attended the U.S. Department of Transportation Distracted Driving Summit in Washington, D.C., hosted by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. During the question and answer session following the Legislation, Regulation and Enforcement of Distracted Driving panel discussion, the AMA commented on the proceedings and posed a question to the panel. 

We expressed our concern that little to no attention was paid to America's vulnerable roadway users, such as motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians, when research and technology issues were discussed. The AMA requested to be included whenever distracted driving issues are discussed because our community has experienced many personal tragedies directly attributable to distracted or inattentive vehicle operation. To see an archived video and blog of the summit, please click here.

Please write or call your U.S. Senators and Representatives today to thank them for having these hearings on combating distracted driving and urge them to include the motorcycle community in the ongoing discussions and development of technologies. You can find contact information for your elected officials on AmericanMotorcyclist.com/Rights, and click on "Issues & Legislation," then enter your zip code in the "Find your Officials" box. Additionally, a prewritten e-mail is available for you to send to your elected officials by following the "Take Action" option and entering your information.