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MTA bus driver who hit FIT student had been suspended for texting BY Pete Donohue DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Monday, November 9th 2009, 4:00 AM Jeremy Philhower was driving city bus on Wednesday when he hit student Seth Kahn (below). Oates for News Jeremy Philhower was driving city bus on Wednesday when he hit student Seth Kahn (below). Related News * Articles * Stricter driving laws urged to prevent deaths of text-happy teens * Leah Ignagni confirmed as Steve McNair's other, other woman * Parents don't get the message on teen 'sexting' habits * Local college freshman wrecked his first...

OKLAHOMA CITY — As more and more cities and states pass laws banning the use of cell phones – including texting – while driving, this “nanny statism” has finally struck lawmakers in Oklahoma. And that’s unfortunate. Oklahomans tend to pride themselves on the fact that more government intervention is not a good idea. Good old-fashioned common sense is usually acceptable and reasonable laws are followed. Banning cell phones and texting while driving is unreasonable, in the eyes of the Oklahoma Watchdog. Rep. Sue Tibbs, a Tulsa Republican who serves on the House Public Safety Committee, is planning to introduce a...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2009 – In an executive order issued Oct. 1, President Barack Obama banned federal employees from text messaging while behind the wheel on government business. “With nearly 3 million civilian employees, the federal government can and should demonstrate leadership in reducing the dangers of text messaging while driving,” Obama said in the order. “A federal government-wide prohibition on the use of text messaging while driving on official business or while using government-supplied equipment will help save lives, reduce injuries, and set an example for state and local governments, private employers, and individual drivers.” Text messaging, or “texting,”...

THE WHITE HOUSEOffice of the Press Secretary___________________________________________________________________________For Immediate Release                                                        October 1, 2009EXECUTIVE ORDER- - - - - - -FEDERAL LEADERSHIP ON REDUCING TEXT MESSAGING WHILE DRIVING By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 7902(c) of title 5, United States Code, and the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended, 40 U.S.C. 101 et seq., and in order to demonstrate Federal leadership in improving safety on our roads and highways and to enhance the efficiency of Federal contracting, it is hereby ordered as...

Determined to stop people from texting while driving, the Obama administration plans a campaign similar to past government efforts to discourage drunken driving and encourage the use of seat belts. The administration planned to offer recommendations Thursday to address the growing safety risk of distracted drivers, especially the use of mobile devices to send messages from behind the wheel. "We can really eliminate texting while driving. That should be our goal," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, declining to provide specifics of the recommendations.

Help, how do you do this?

This video should be shown to every teenager in this country...and anyone else who ever has an inclination or temptation to "text" while driving. Be forewarned, though a depiction, the video if fairly graphic in terms of injury. PSA Texting while Driving, U.K., August 2009 Please spread this one around. Consider showing it in schools and churches.

Here is video of a Today Show report discussing whether a British "Texting While Driving" Ad that shows he graphic results that can happen goes too far. The report shows the ad, and then discusses the impact it can have on people, particularly young people, to convince them not to text while driving. . . . . . (Watch Video)

Murdered playboy model Jasmine Fiore was texting former lover Murdered Playboy model Jasmine Fiore had been exchanging text messages with a former boyfriend saying she wanted to meet him in Las Vegas in the hours before she was killed. Philip Sherwell, New York 22 Aug 2009 [Pic in URL] Lisa Lepore, second from right, mother of former model Jasmine Fiore, is comforted by unidentified family friends at news conference at the Buena Park City Hall, in a Buena Park Miss Fiore's short-lived husband and reality TV contestant Ryan Alexander Jenkins is wanted in connection with her death after her mutilated...

The dangers of driving while texting (DWT) are undeniable, yet people continue motoring along, heads down, fingers flying, as they clog up traffic or swerve in and out of lanes. In a nod to the classic blood-and-guts driver's ed films of the '50s and '60s, a police department in Wales has decided the best way to raise awareness of the deadly DWT epidemic is to disgust and scare the crap out of people. The new public service announcement, which spares no details, includes snapping necks, piercing screams, blood galore, an orphaned child, a dead infant, and multiple helicopters. The only...

Gloria Wilhelm said Thursday that a state law banning text-messaging while driving comes too late for her youngest son, Matt, who died after he was hit by a car driven by a woman downloading ring tones to her cell phone. The statewide law takes effect Jan. 1. The City of Chicago banned texting while driving last year. As Gov. Quinn signed the bill Thursday, he said Matt Wilhelm, 25, who died in September 2006, had lived a life of service and died "doing everything the right way, riding his bike while wearing a helmet." Gloria Wilhelm said the law's impact...

The Transportation Department will convene a meeting of safety experts and others concerned about the dangers of text-messaging and cell phone use while driving, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Tuesday. “If it were up to me, I would ban drivers from texting, but unfortunately, laws aren’t always enough,” Mr. LaHood said. Mr. LaHood said he hoped to bring together transportation and safety officials from around the country, as well as members of Congress, law enforcement officials and others concerned about what happens when drivers do not give full attention to controlling their vehicles. The session may be held in...

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration will convene a summit of experts to figure out what to do about the problem of texting while driving, a practice studies and a growing number of accidents show can be deadly. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will announce his decision to gather senior transportation officials, safety advocates, law enforcement representatives, members of Congress and academics who study distracted driving at a news conference Tuesday. The summit will take place next month. If it were up to him, he would ban texting while driving, LaHood said in prepared remarks released by his office. However, past safety...

LOCKPORT, N.Y. (AP) -- Police say a western New York tow truck driver was texting on one cell phone while talking on another when he slammed into a car and crashed into a swimming pool.

Texting-while-driving truck driver crashes into swimming pool LOCKPORT — The driver of a tow truck texting on one cell phone while talking on another Wednesday morning crashed into a car at Tonawanda Creek Road North near Willow Wood Drive, injuring a woman and her niece, Niagara County sheriff's deputies said. The flatbed tow truck then crashed through a fence and into a house before ending up in a swimming pool. Chief Deputy Steven Preisch said the driver of the Adams tow truck, identified as Nicholas Sparks, 25, of Burt, admitted he was both texting and talking just after 8 a.m.,...

A bill introduced Wednesday in the Senate would require states to write laws to prohibit text messaging by drivers or risk losing 25 percent of their annual federal highway money. The proposal, sponsored by a group of Democrats including Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), came a day after the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute released a study on commercial truck drivers that found texting drivers to be 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash or a near miss. The legislation would set deadlines for Transportation Department regulators to devise minimum penalties for states to implement. States would have...

States would be required to ban driving while texting or face the loss of highway funds under legislation being pushed by a group of senators. New York Sen. Charles Schumer and three other Democrats plan to unveil the bill on Wednesday. It follows a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute that found that when drivers of heavy trucks texted, their collision risk was 23 times greater than when not texting. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia ban texting while driving. Under the Senate proposal, states would need to outlaw texting or e-mailing while operating a moving vehicle or...

Wake up, you Crackheads! No, I don’t mean the corner punks . . . they’re just small businessmen trying to pay the bills. They’re no threat to my family or me. It’s you arrogant Blackberry addicts, texting 50 words per minute while doing 75 miles per hour down the Pike. Could you please put that damn thing down? It’s bad enough that you self-absorbed jerks can’t stop texting when you’re on foot - bumping into your co-workers walking down the hall and stepping into traffic on city streets without even glancing up. I particularly hate the office Crackheads (you know...

Agency Reportedly Feared Angering Congress NEW YORK -- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gathered hundreds of pages of research and warnings about the hazards of drivers using cell phones, but withheld the information from the public in part out of fear of angering Congress, a newspaper reported Monday. The former head of the traffic safety agency, Dr. Jeffrey Runge, told The New York Times that he was urged to withhold the findings to avoid antagonizing members of Congress who warned the agency against lobbying states. Runge said transit officials told him he could jeopardize billions of dollars of its...

How did I get here? That has to be the question Staten Island teen Alexa Longueira was asking when she suddenly found herself down a New York City manhole. According to MyFox New York:Alexa Longueira was walking down Victory Boulevard and getting ready to text-message when she fell into an open sewer manhole. Now the city is trying to figure out why the manhole was left open and unblocked. Alexa suffered some cuts and scrapes but is otherwise OK. So just how did Alexa end up in a manhole? Seems the young lady was too busy texting to pay attention...