LaHood, at Summit, Calls Distracted Driving ‘Epidemic’
WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday that the Department of Transportation’s two-day distracted driving summit was likely to result in “something legislatively” to ban texting and driving, which he termed a national “epidemic.”
“There’s a lot of good ideas on how to solve it and I think we’ll come away tomorrow with some good recommendations and then begin to work the Congress and stakeholders and really solve the problem,” LaHood said at the conclusion of the summit’s first day.
“As a result of this, there will be some other legislative initiatives and we’ll find a way forward to do something legislatively, what that will be we’ll figure it out with Congress.”
LaHood said that the discussion at the summit “showed that people consider texting and texting and driving a huge problem in America. This is an epidemic.”
LaHood said that there may be “a broader interest” from Congress in dealing with other forms of distraction, “our priority now is to really deal with this distracted driving as it relates to texting, that’s really what we want to look at.”
At the conclusion of the summit Thursday, LaHood is expected to recommend several ways to address the texting issue.
By Sean McNally
Senior Reporter
