legislation
Legislation is an important first step to encourage behavior change. To ensure laws are also enforced, language describing prohibited must be clear and easily applied by officers in diverse conditions and circumstances in the real world. Action items in this category are designed to strengthen distracted driving laws so they can be actively and consistently enforced. These action items also underscore the importance of evaluating laws for effectiveness and impact on behavior.
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2023 priority
Prepare templates to guide the development of policy/legislative briefing documents that stakeholders can use to inform legislative initiatives and make distracted driving a national priority in road safety.
These educational documents can build a foundation for national and state leadership to advance distracted driving policy by sharing model language and articulating research findings about risks in lay language. It is very important to be sensitive to the reality of existing policies and legislation and not harm existing progress. A focus should also be to encourage studies to evaluate the effectiveness of laws. These materials can help cultivate relationships with the U.S. Congress in order to share knowledge and research to support national policy priorities related to distracted driving. Materials can also encourage the allocation of resources to accomplish the actions listed above.
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