TextingWhileDriving

Distracted driving has been a growing problem since cellphones came into wide use. Now, new research shows that among the young, the proliferation of mobile devices and the explosion of apps they have spawned have made the problem much worse.

Drivers distracted by talking or texting on cell phones killed an estimated 16,000 people from 2001 to 2007, according to a report released yesterday in the American Journal of Public Health. "Our results suggested that recent and rapid increases in texting volumes have resulted in thousands of...

OnStar, a unit of General Motors that provides in-car safety and communications, unveiled new services that may allow drivers to verbally update their Facebook page and send text messages. The new services would read the driver's Facebook news feed out loud and let them update their status with...

GM will test an application to allow drivers to search Facebook through the OnStar communications systems it puts in its cars. The system will allow drivers to have access to the social media site through verbal speech recognition, and text messages will come back to the driver through a system that produces audible messages.