Auto executives focusing on problem of texting while driving

Despite considerable advances in safety equipment and driver assistance systems, traffic deaths in the U.S. are rising.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported recently that road fatalities rose 10% in the first half of 2016 — after an increase in 2015 that was the sharpest in 50 years, when 38,300 people died on U.S. roads, according to the National Safety Council.

NHTSA reported that a 3.3% increase in U.S. miles traveled in the first half of this year — the result of lower gas prices, healthy new car sales and a stronger economy — could not account for the higher number of deaths.

Auto executives, meanwhile, believe that the rise is a direct result of distracted driving. Namely, texting.

“It comes down to people being distracted, and texting is a big piece of that,” Ford Chief Executive Mark Fields said. “Part of it is more miles being driven, since the recession ended. But part of it is people being distracted.”

“It’s texting,” said Chevrolet head Alan Batey. “We are on the road to autonomous, and our vehicles are supplying a lot of safety features. But texting and driving is a very, very bad habit.”

Both executives, speaking to The Times during interviews at AutoMobility L.A., the media and trade event that precedes the L.A. Auto Show, said their companies are doing all they can to design and install safety systems in their automobiles — including lane-keeping assistance, front collision warnings and emergency braking assistance — to help prevent collisions.

“Computers and machines are just more accurate than humans,” Batey said, although he said drivers themselves ultimately bear the responsibility for safe driving.

Fields also noted that drivers are doing a lot more than texting while they drive.

“I do a little survey, when I’m driving, where I look at the other drivers,” Fields said. “It is amazing to see what people do in their cars.”