skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

CDOT Targets "Pokemon Go" Players, Other Distracted Drivers

play audio
Play

Friday, July 29, 2016   

DENVER - "Beware the Pokemon" signs went up along Colorado highways this week, warning motorists not to game and drive. It's part of the Colorado Department of Transportation's (C-DOT) Killer Habit campaign to reduce distracted driving in the state, which caused more than 15,000 accidents and 68 fatalities in 2015.

Sam Cole, safety communications manager for C-DOT, said while Pokemon may be a craze right now, the agency doesn't want people to go crazy.

"It's more or less an obsession with some people," he said. "We just hope they have enough common sense to put down the game when they're driving. We know that there was a police cruiser in Baltimore, Maryland, that was rear-ended by somebody who was on his phone playing Pokemon."

The augmented-reality game allows players to search for virtual creatures that appear on their smartphones superimposed onto real-life locations. There have been several media reports of Pokemon-related accidents, including some later revealed as hoaxes, but Cole said so far, no incidents have been reported in Colorado, and the C-DOT campaign aims to keep it that way.

A national survey by the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction found while 98 percent of respondents know distracted driving is dangerous, nearly 75 percent admit to having done it. Cole said from law enforcement reports, distracted drivers sound a lot like drunk drivers.

"The car is weaving along the roadway, speeds are erratic," he said. "And also, somebody's reaction time can be delayed, obviously, if they're distracted. When you're driving a vehicle, two-ton vehicle down the road, you have an enormous responsibility."

Cole said kicking a distracted-driving habit could save a life. C-DOT is challenging Coloradans to lock their phones away, starting with their next trip, and make it to their destination without touching it once.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…


Data show Oak Ridge residents pay $2.67 million in taxes toward nuclear weapons programs. (fizkes/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Social Issues

play sound

This year's high school graduates will be eligible for 14,000 new scholarships offered through Opportunity Next Colorado, a $21 million investment …

The new law will apply only to future sales of Indiana farmland. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

Environment

play sound

Traffic deaths are trending higher in Minnesota this year after a decline the previous year. Groups pushing for safer roads are convinced a small …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021