Highway Safety Summit Addresses Texting and Driving, Booster Seat Education
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 16, 2014) -- Transportation stakeholders representing the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s Office of Highway Safety (KTCOHS), companies, physicians, insurance providers, law enforcement, the Kentucky Safety and Prevention Alignment Network (KSPAN), the Brain Injury Alliance of Kentucky (BIAK), and a victim, among others, attended the Kentucky Highway Safety Summit held Jan. 14 that focused on texting and driving and booster seat education. The Summit was organized by the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center at the University of Kentucky, the KTCOHS, BIAK and KSPAN.
Dr. Stephanie Mayfield Gibson, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, opened the Summit with some staggering statistics. According to Kentucky State Police crash data, “more than 61,000 collisions where driver distraction was cited as a contributing factor to the crash, resulting in 14,500 injuries and 174 fatalities. School and work zone restrictions on distractors such as mobile devices have the potential ability to save a high number of motoring public lives, highway construction worker lives, hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and doctor visits. From 2012-2013, there were 1,386 collisions in work zones with 10 fatalities. In school land use areas, there were 4,682 collisions between 2012 and 2013 with 507 injuries and 2 fatalities."
A texting and driving victim, Hillary Coltharp, her mother Shawn Coltharp, and one of her good friends talked about the severe traumatic brain injury she suffered after a motor vehicle crash more than six years ago when she was texting while driving. Hillary has no memory of the crash or of events that occurred before the crash, such as the birth of her son, or her marriage. Since the crash, Hillary has endured multiple surgeries and requires ongoing rehabilitation for the rest of her life.
AT&T presented information on their texting and driving ban campaign. “At AT&T, we believe that texting while driving is foolhardy at best, and lethal at worst,” said AT&T Kentucky Regional Director Hank Mangeot. “Gov. Beshear and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet have been strong supporters of our campaign against texting behind the wheel and we appreciate their partnership as we’ve tried to spread the word that when it comes to texting and driving, it can wait.”
Representative Terry Mills, Ky. house district 24, spoke about House Bill 33 that he and Rep. Joni Jenkins (House district 44) are co-sponsoring related to texting while driving and the banning of hand-held devices in school zones and highway work zones.
“I appreciate this effort to make our highways safer," Mills said. "As public servants it is the work we should be doing. House Bill 33 is an important part of this effort and I will do all I can to get it passed.”
Presentations by pediatric trauma surgeons Dr. John Draus, Kentucky Children’s Hospital, and Dr. Mary Fallat, of Louisville’s Kosair Children’s Hospital, graphically illustrated trauma center-treated cases associated with incorrect restraint use in vehicles such as the wearing of adult seat belts in children 8 years and younger or non-use of booster seat that resulted in common injuries such as broken pelvises and perforated intestines.
Bill Bell, director the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety at the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, said that legislation will be introduced related to bringing Kentucky’s current booster seat law up to par with bordering states that follow National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) recommendations for height and age. NHTSA recommends a belt-positioning booster seat for children 4-8 years old that weigh at least 40 pounds, and who are under 57 inches tall. Kentucky’s current law requires booster seat use for children under 7 years of age and up 50 inches tall.
MEDIA CONTACT: Mallory Powell, mallory.powell@uky.edu