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NY “Distracted” Driving Awareness Month – More than Just Texting

April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month: experts say the distracted driving problem goes way beyond just handheld cell phone calls. Joel Feldman with the Casey Feldman Foundation notes that New York State already bans both hand held calls and texting while driving, but he says three quarters of all distracted driving injuries and deaths are unrelated to cell phones.

"You can’t legislate against me reaching for my GPS, me reaching into my glove compartment, me reaching around if I’ve got an infant in the back in the car seat..."

Feldman became an advocate for the issue after his daughter Casey, a 21 year old Fordham University student, was struck and killed by a distracted driver in 2009. Nationwide, he says, distracted driving is responsible for more than three thousand fatalities per year.

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.