2010
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 10-1029
       
       
       BY REPRESENTATIVE(S) Fischer, Kefalas, Levy, Apuan,
       Benefield, Court, Hullinghorst, Kerr A., Labuda, Miklosi, Pace,
       Peniston, Rice, Riesberg, Ryden, Schafer S., Weissmann, Gagliardi,
       Pommer, Primavera, Solano;
       also SENATOR(S) Bacon, Williams.
       
       
   CONCERNING THE INTENT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
          TO PREVENT DISTRACTED DRIVING. 
       
       
          WHEREAS, According to the National Safety Council (NSC), motor
       vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death in the United States for
       young persons ages three to thirty-four, and these crashes remain among
       the top three causes of death for persons of any age; and
       
          WHEREAS, The recent National Vehicle Crash Causation Survey,
       performed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
       (NHTSA), found that eighty percent of all traffic incidents and sixty-five
       percent of all near-crashes are the direct result of some type of in-car
       distraction; and
       
          WHEREAS, According to the NHTSA, nearly 6,000 people died in
       2008 in incidents involving a distracted or inattentive driver; and
       
          WHEREAS, Data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System
       (FARS), part of the NHTSA, shows driver distraction to have been
       involved in sixteen percent of all fatal crashes in 2008, which is an
       increase from twelve percent of all fatal crashes in 2004; and
       
       
       
       
       
          WHEREAS, As of June 2009, there were more than 276 million
       wireless cell phone subscribers in the United States, which is an increase
       of forty-two percent from 194 million in June 2005 and nearly three times
       more than the 97 million wireless subscribers in June 2000; and
       
          WHEREAS, The NSC estimates that twenty-eight percent of all car
       crashes in 2008 involved individuals using their cell phones while
       driving, accounting for 1.6 million crashes and 645,000 injuries that year;
       and
       
          WHEREAS, Although there are many forms of driving distractions,
       the NSC has found that the number of crashes attributable to the use of
       cell phones and other wireless devices is much greater than those
       attributable to any other distraction; and
       
          WHEREAS, The NHTSA estimates that, at any point during the day,
       eleven percent of drivers are talking on cell phones, and more than half
       of the respondents to a survey by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
       reported talking on cell phones while driving during the previous thirty
       days; and
       
          WHEREAS, While hands-free devices are often seen as a solution to
       the risks of driver distraction because they help eliminate the "visual" risk
       of looking away from the road and the "manual" risk of removing one's
       hands from the steering wheel, cognitive distraction--that is, taking one's
       mind "off the road"--still occurs when using a cell phone, even
       hands-free, while driving; and
       
          WHEREAS, Research shows that distracted drivers may not be aware
       of the effects of cognitive distraction and cell phone use on their ability
       to drive safely; and
       
          WHEREAS, An NSC survey of American businesses found that
       twenty-five percent of businesses reported banning cell phone use by their
       employees while driving during business hours, and ninety-six percent of
       these businesses reported no decrease in productivity as a result of
       banning cell phone use; and
       
          WHEREAS, The NSC and FocusDriven, a national cell phone-free
       driving advocacy organization, have declared April 2010 to be the
       inauguration of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month; and
       
          WHEREAS, National Distracted Driving Awareness Month was
       proclaimed in a resolution introduced by Representative Betsy Markey
       (D-CO) and passed by the United States House of Representatives in a
       410-2 vote; now, therefore,
       
          Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Sixty-seventh
       General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the Senate concurring herein:
       
          (1)  That we, the members of the Colorado General Assembly, join in
       supporting National Distracted Driving Awareness Month and in
       considering the lives and safety of others with whom we share the road
       by pledging to drive cell phone-free;
       
          (2)  That we honor the memory of nine-year-old Erica Forney of Fort
       Collins, Colorado, who was struck and killed by a distracted driver in
       2008, by committing ourselves to FocusDriven's mission of increasing the
       public awareness of the dangers of cell phone distracted driving; and
       
          (3)  That we encourage Governor Bill Ritter, Jr., to sign an executive
       order prohibiting all executive branch state employees, except for
       emergency, public safety, and essential personnnel, from using cell
       phones while driving during the normal conduct of state business.
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
          Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint Resolution be sent to
       Governor Bill Ritter, Jr.; the members of the founding board of
       FocusDriven; Ray LaHood, United States Secretary of Transportation;
       and the National Safety Council.
       
       
       
       
       
       _________________________________________________________
       Terrance D. Carroll              Brandon C. Shaffer 
       SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE                    PRESIDENT OF
       OF REPRESENTATIVES                        THE SENATE
       
       
       
       
       
       
       ____________________________  ____________________________
       Marilyn Eddins                         Karen Goldman
       CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE                SECRETARY OF
       OF REPRESENTATIVES                        THE SENATE