U.N. Launches Global Crackdown on Distracted Driving

NEW YORK — The effort to ban texting while driving has gone global. The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, on Wednesday issued an order banning U.N. employees from texting while driving U.N. vehicles, as part of an effort to highlight distracted driving as a "global problem."

In addition, the U.S. State Department is asking its embassies around the world to raise awareness about distracted driving and to collect data about distracted driving from other governments.

The U.S. Department of Transportation reports that 32 countries — including Brazil, France, Japan, Jordan, Russia, Spain, Taiwan and the United Kingdom — have passed laws that restrict drivers' use of handheld devices. Portugal has outlawed all phone use — handheld or hands-free — in the driver seat.

"The rapid increase in cell phone use around the world threatens to exacerbate an already worsening traffic fatality rate worldwide," said the U.S. Department of Transportation in a statement.

By 2030, the World Health Organization predicts that traffic crashes will climb from ninth to the fifth leading cause of death worldwide. There are about 600 million vehicles on the road today and 4.6 billion cell phone subscriptions worldwide, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, which also said texting behind the wheel is a "growing public safety threat."

Inside Line says: There may be nowhere in the world where you can text and drive — or talk on the phone and drive — if some experts have their way. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent