Posted on 01/12/2009 8:23:13 AM PST by Red Badger
A national safety group is advocating a total ban on cell phone use while driving, saying the practice is clearly dangerous and leads to fatalities.
States should ban drivers from using hand-held and hands-free cell phones, and businesses should prohibit employees from using cell phones while driving on the job, the congressionally chartered National Safety Council says, taking those positions for the first time.
The group's president and chief executive, Janet Froetscher, likened talking on cell phones to drunken driving, saying cell phone use increases the risk of a crash fourfold.
``When our friends have been drinking, we take the car keys away. It's time to take the cell phone away,'' Froetscher said in interview.
No state currently bans all cell phone use while driving. Six states - California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Utah and Washington - and the District of Columbia ban the use of hand-held cell phones behind the wheel, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Also, 17 states and the district restrict or ban cell phone use by novice drivers.
Council officials acknowledged a total ban could take years.
``Public awareness and the laws haven't caught up with what the scientists are telling us,'' Froetscher said. ``There is no dispute that driving while talking on your cell phone, or texting while driving, is dangerous.''
Froetscher said the council examined more than 50 scientific studies before reaching its decision. One was a study by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis that estimates 6 percent of vehicle crashes, causing about 2,600 deaths and 12,000 serious injuries a year, are attributable to cell phone use. Hands-free cell phones are just as risky as hand held phones, she added.
``It's not just what you're doing with your hands - it's that your head is in the conversation and so your eyes are not on the road,'' Froetscher said.
John Walls, vice president of CTIA-The Wireless Association, a cell phone trade group, objected to a complete ban. He said there are many instances where the ability to make a phone call while driving helps protect safety.
``We think that you can sensibly and safely use a cell phone to make a brief call,'' Walls said.
What makes cell phone use distinct from other risky driving behaviors, Froetscher said, is the magnitude - there are 270 million cell phone users in the U.S. and 80 percent of them talk on the phone while driving.
Froetscher said the council is the first major national safety group to call for a total cell phone ban for drivers. The National Transportation Safety Board has been urging states since 2003 to ban the use of cell phones or any wireless device by inexperienced drivers who have learner's permits or intermediate licenses. Last year, at least 23 states considered some form of legislation to restrict the use of cell phones or wireless devices, according to the board.
Council officials said they will press Congress to address the issue when it takes up a highway construction bill this year, possibly by offering incentives to states that enact cell phone laws.
The Governors Highway Safety Association agreed that cell phone use while driving is dangerous, but said it would be difficult to enforce a ban. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which is funded by auto insurers, said banning all cell phone use ``makes sense based on the research,'' but agreed that enforcement will be difficult.
How do you go about banning something that is advertised 27/7, as what everyone needs to keep up in today’s world?
We ought to have a law that for every new law an old one has to be repealed.
They really don’t have to make another law.....although California did. Auto manufacturers could handle it by putting in a signal block when the engine on a car is running. Wouldn’t be all that hard or expensive.
But, We the Sheeple allow it, because WE keep re-electing them.
We are truly getting the government we deserve.
So don’t make it a law, regulate private industry instead. Odd freeper comment, doncha think?
Those aren't private roads, therefore the state can regulate what drivers do while driving on them.
That said, all they do by passing a law that gov't can't/won't enforce is encourage people to develop a further contempt for the law. Smooth move.
You might want to modify your position. If you replace two ten-page laws with one 500 page law, that ain’t progress.
Remember what happened to the infamous “bailout”. It started out only a few pages, and by the time it got to the president’s desk, it had grown to a 450 page monster.
I’m on 24 hour emergency call. Every day for the last 25 years. If I’m driving, and my cell rings? I’m answering it!
I have had numerous people scoff at my “absurd” suggestion of having a mandatory “five fruits and vegetables per day” law, but honestly I don’t think we are too far from that (or something equally absurd)...
“The group’s president and chief executive, Janet Froetscher, likened talking on cell phones to drunken driving”
I don’t think it’s a valid comparison, because you can hang up or put the cell phone down while driving, but you cannot instantaneously become ‘undrunk’ if you are intoxicated. I generally avoid talking on the the cell phone while driving, but on those occasions when I do, I always put the phone down when I’m changing lanes etc.; you cannot put aside your drunkenness while changing lanes.
On Friday, I was headed home on I-64 East. The left lane was moving at 40 mph because a woman on a cell phone had no idea where she was.
On Saturday, I was headed down one of the two lane rural roads near me. A Ford Explorer was approaching from the opposite. It suddenly wandered to the right and wiped out a mailbox! The vehicle never slowed and when it passed me a woman was talking on a cell phone. She did not even know she had hit the mailbox despite the fact that she broke her headlight and damaged the right fornt fender.
It's the right thing to do.
What about when all the cars have internet access available. People will be on the internet while driving.
So, if this were to come to pass, drivers can be pulled over for APPEARING to be holding a cell phone to their ear. This will be interesting!
Last summer, I was coming home from work and in a residential neighborhood a block from my house. A teenage girl pulled right out in front of me from a side street and I missed hitting her by mere inches. She hit the brakes and sheepishly grinned at me while wagging her cell phone at me...................
I’m no fan of cell phone drivers. BUT...how is talking on the cell phone more distracting than a blaring stereo that can be heard in the next county? Or talking to someone in the back seat? In all events, you need to keep both your eyes and your mind on the road.
Already are. I saw a guy net surfing on his laptop while driving the other day..........
It’s a start, at least. I haven’t heard any one else make the committment I am willing to make.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.