New York State Legislature and DORCs Announce Unique Efforts to Combat Distracted Driving

ALBANY, N.Y., April 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- New York State Senator Terrence Murphy (R-Westchester) and Assembly Assistant Speaker Felix Ortiz (D-Kings), together with awareness organization Distracted Operators Risk Casualties (DORCs), today announced a joint effort that could go a long way in protecting innocent people from injuries caused by distracted driving. Senator Murphy and Assemblyman Ortiz have introduced a bipartisan state bill, making New York the first state to attempt a distracted driving policy solution that enables police to examine phones at an accident site in a way that, notably, completely avoids drivers' personal data.

DORCs co-founder Ben Lieberman, a staunch advocate against distracted driving since he and his family lost their 19-year-old son, Evan, in a 2011 collision caused by a distracted driver, has been working closely with Senator Murphy and Assemblyman Ortiz to implement the new law, known as "Evan's Law."

For weeks following the crash that resulted in Evan's death, the driver's phone was sitting in a junkyard, and police never retrieved the phone or phone records. Through his own civil lawsuit, Lieberman subpoenaed the phone records and discovered the driver had been texting while he was driving, leading up to the crash. Lieberman was surprised to learn that the local police force was not to blame for avoiding the driver's device, but rather that this was typical because there is no official, consistent police protocol.

"The general public knows distracted driving is a problem, but if people knew the extent of the damage caused by this behavior, they would be amazed," said Lieberman. "With our current laws, we're not getting accurate information because the issue is not being addressed at the heart of the problem—with the people causing the collisions."  

"I have often heard there is no such thing as a breathalyzer for distracted driving—so we created one," Lieberman continued. "Respecting drivers' personal privacy, however, is also important, and we are taking meticulous steps to not violate those rights."

A key part of the legislation involves new "Textalyzer" technology that will allow officers to detect whether or not the device was being used around the time of a crash, but will not provide access to any content—keeping conversations, contacts, numbers, photos, and application data private.

Cellebrite, the leader in mobile device forensics solutions, is developing this capability for officers to detect device usage in the field while maintaining the privacy of data stored on the device. "Cellebrite has been leading the adoption of field mobile forensics solutions by law enforcement for years, culminating in the formal introduction of our UFED FIELD series product line a year ago," said Jim Grady, CEO, Cellebrite, Inc. "We look forward to supporting DORCs and law enforcement—both in New York and nationally—to curb distracted driving."

Assemblyman Ortiz said, "I'm proud to have been an early advocate to combat distracted driving and the sponsor of the nation's first law banning talking on a phone while driving. Unfortunately, the problem has now developed beyond hands-free phone calling. There's a significant number of drivers who continually engage in reckless behavior, such as texting, using apps and browsing the web on their mobile devices while behind the wheel. These people will continue to put themselves and others at risk unless we come up with preventive ways to successfully stop them."

"According to the National Safety Council car crash statistics spiked significantly this year and that is the first increase after ten years of steady decline. Since drunk driving is down and today's cars are built better than ever, the addition of mobile devices in our lives becomes the most likely reason for this sudden increase," said DORCs co-founder Deborah Becker.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, driving a vehicle while texting is six times more dangerous than driving while intoxicated. Despite this fact, and despite knowledge of the risk to themselves and others, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reports that 67 percent of drivers still use their mobile phones while behind the wheel.

"When people were held accountable for drunk driving, that's when positive change occurred. It's time to recognize that distracted driving is a similar impairment, and should be dealt with in a similar fashion. This is a way to address people who are causing damage," said Lieberman.

"The facts regarding distracted driving are startling," said Senator Murphy. "Every year thousands of Americans are involved in an automobile accident a result of distractions behind the wheel. I am thrilled to partner with Assemblyman Ortiz and the Lieberman family to bring more awareness to this issue and support legislation that will help our law enforcement more effectively enforce the rules of the road."

Contact:
Ben Lieberman
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 914-450-6868

About DORCs
Distracted Operators Risk Casualties (DORCs) was founded in 2012 by Ben Lieberman and Deborah Becker in an effort to change distracted driving behavior through educating the public, advocating for enforcement and fighting for legislation. It is the hope of those involved with the organization to spread awareness and encourage legislative action on these issues in order to prevent other families from receiving the terrible call telling them a family member has been injured or killed in a collision that could have been avoided. For more information on DORCs, visit www.dorcs.org, or contact [email protected].

SOURCE Distracted Operators Risk Casualties (DORCs)

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