Hands-free devices meant to aid safety create risk Insightful AAA study -free devices meant to aid safety create risk — by taking driver’s mind off road. http://www.startribune.com/nation/211315451.htm

Vijay on WCCO 06-12-13

Audio clip of Vijay Dixit, Founder & Chairman of Shreya R. Dixit Memorial Foundation taling about distracted driving on the morning show.  He also disussed the state of the art Distracted Driving application created by the foundation on the Adaptive Massive Open Online Course (aMOOC) technlogy.  The application is slated for release in June.  The web based application will be available for all tablet, smartphone and computer platforms.

Keep visiting www.shreyadixit.org for the date of the release.

Shreya R. Dixit Memorial Foundation has teamed up with Dr. Sonwalkar (Sc.D., MIT), a pioneer in adaptive MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) technology to design and develop a distraction-free driving aMOOC application.  First release is slated for late June 2013.  We anticipate this aMOOC to have a global impact on distracted driving educating millions of new and young drivers about driver distraction and deterrence.

The application will be deployed on Smart Phones, Tablets and online for world wide access at no cost to the end-users.

Please let others know and keep visiting the site for the fast approaching rollout.

Call us at 612-759-3384 for more details.

Vijay Dixit, Chairman

Not a day goes by without a newspaper or TV story announcing a fatality and/or injury caused by distracted driving. It is heartbreaking to see innocent lives lost due to an action that is easily avoidable. I write this message because I am from a family grieving the loss of our 19 year old daughter Shreya who was fatally injured while riding as a passenger. The driver got distracted causing a crash killing Shreya on the spot. Although that episode occurred over five years ago, the wound it left is as fresh as it was on November 1, 2007. Our healing has been hampered by a non-ending stream of similar stories hitting us daily.

Many states have been passing strict texting/cell phone laws while behind the wheel. I want to expand the focus beyond testing and draw attention to the broader issue that underpins unsafe driving. Research has shown that a majority of crashes occur due to a driver action taken just 3 seconds before the impact. It is not an action but distraction that may not be attributable to a cell phone, like the Minnesota trucker who was while reaching down to retrieve an energy drink set off a chain-reaction crash killing two women and an unborn child. He ignored posted warning about a lane closure ahead. By the time he looked up, three lives were gone.

Driver distractions originate from both inside and outside of the car and cannot be managed by laws alone. I propose a broader grass roots level community driven path of education and awareness training starting with elementary school kids and reinforcing their behavior as they graduate to middle, junior and high school. We must engage our future drivers in their formative years by leveraging peer-to-peer networks. Initiate elementary school level good driver behavior education programs. These kids may even keep tabs on the elder drivers who claim ownership to a driver a license but are too distracted to drive with discipline.

Shreya R. Dixit Memorial Foundation invites those who have lost loved ones to distracted driving to join in this crusade for building a distraction-free driver community, one driver at a time.

Vijay B. Dixit, Chairman
Shreya R. Dixit Memorial Foundation
http://www.shreyadixit.org
501(c)-3 Non-Profit Organization

Read the article in the Minneapolis StarTribune

http://news.yahoo.com/study-distracted-driving-deaths-underreported-161720078.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50146202n&tag=api