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.
Not really, no. Precisely what makes driving upon public roads a privilege rather than a right? The fact that someone from the government TOLD you it is a privilege instead of a right?
My taxes are paying for these “public roads”. As long as I am willing to follow a few BASIC rules of the road regarding who has the “right of way” in given situations (to avoid anarchy), I am not sure why you think the government has the power to tell me I may not travel upon them using whatever means I choose.
Not really. Have you ever ridden in a car where the driver is on a freeway, moving at 70 miles an hour and can’t talk on the phone and drive at the same time? How many lives are at stake in a situation like this? I’ve been there and it ain’t no joy ride.
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I understand the thinking that went into your original comment perfectly. I live in the BosWash corridor, so have seem more than my fair share of idiots on cell phones.
I found it odd that you seemed to wanted to further regulate the auto industry (cell phone blocking while car in gear) rather than the cell phone industry/people using the technology. Not a position one sees a lot of freepers taking (which is neither here nor there, just an observation).
reductio ad absurdum
Thank you for finding the most ridiculous and extreme example to try to support your argument for greater government interference in our lives. No, of course blind people CAN not drive.
However, if a blind person can PROVE their ability to drive while follwing the basic rules, anarchy-avoiding,rules of the road mentioned in one of my other posts, then I DO support their right to drive.
Of course, national traffic fatality rates continue to break record LOWS each year, including a big drop in 2008.
I am against the nanny state. But as the mother of 2 children, I am really torn here. Every time in the past 6 months that I have had a near miss on the highway....100% of the time, the other person was on the stupid phone. My step mother was t-boned in November by a teenager on a cell phone. Look around you when you drive and just COUNT the number of people on cell phones, not just the ones talking, but the ones holding their phones down and texting. It is so frustrating. Now, to add to that my own hypocrisy, I have in the past year toned down my driving and chatting. But I have been guilty of answering my phone and talking while driving...but I am also determined to not do it from here on out....so yea I would love to see people fined for chatting while driving, makes more sense than fining someone for going 51 mph in a 45 mph zone to me.
You obviously have never read the studies about driving while talking on cell phones. The evidence is overwhelming that it is almost as bad as driving drunk.
I can speak from my own experience that it is difficult to concentrate when in a discussion while driving.
Now that freedom of travel is agreed to be a right, would walking on public roadways be a “right”, or a “priveledge’?
I do pay for public roadways, so shouldn’t I be able to use them?
how is your arguement different than the gun-grabbers who use the same logic to violate the second amendment”
I will agree that your usage of the public roadways for TRAVEL is a right.
I will also agree that your operation of a vehicle on those roadways is a right (if it is a vehicle that roadway is designed to carry).
As long as I am willing to follow a few BASIC rules of the road...(to avoid anarchy)
This is where you lost your argument. The only reason anarchy is bad on the road is because it is a safety hazard. No safety hazard, and anarchy would be fine.
Since you've admitted that establishing some rules to provide for the common safety is acceptable, the only argument is what the rules should be. You're ability to operate the vehicle safely would seem to be a rule we could both agree on. The question is, does talking on a cell phone impair you ability to operate the vehicle safely?
“No matter how laws we passed there are always going to be stupid people...”
but....robbing banks is against the law, but people still do it...should we take that law off the books??? I’m just sayin...
Taking it further, it's already illegal to lose control of your vehicle and further penalties apply when there is property damage, injuries, and death involved.
This makes as much sense as the "add-on" penalty called "Hate Crime"
Talking while on a cell phone is not a Constitutionally protected right, for starters.
This is so nonsensical, it barely warrants a reply. How do you separate the two? Due to the way our cities are structured these days, if you can't travel the public roads, you essentially can't work. Either you have a right to travel or your don't. Methods of locamotion don't come into it. Try riding a horse along the side of a freeway and you'll see how fast the police state will come down on you.
The sad fact is that Americans have bought into this priviledge argument on the part of the state because it's easier than attempting to argue with it. If you look at the history of how drivers licenses were implemented in this country, you'd find it was just another bait and switch move by the government to exercise control, like so many other aspects of our lives. Originally, the claim was that only those using the public roads for profit (i.e., truck drivers) had to be 'licensed'. This is similar to the tactics taken with the income tax, where only the top half of one percent of the people had to pay. We've seen where that has led, and where the state has taken drivers licenses as well, tying them to all kind of other things that have nothing whatsoever to do with driving.
Just because y'all gladly accept your chains, and hope they'll rest lightly on your progeny doesn't mean they will.
I believe the problem is, there are certain types of people
who are prone to distraction that have the problem, not all.
By this I mean mental type problems. For instance, there are mildly Autistic people who are allowed to drive, but they must pay attention to driving 100% of the time or they run out of their lane and lose track of the cars ahead and behind them.
THESE are the people who should have ANY distraction taken away while driving. Don't put all people together in the same basket and punish everyone for the problems of a few.
The argument made for cell phone distraction, if applied to all drivers, should include all solo Cops and their 2-way radios since they are human too and are thus defined as prone to distraction. An exception should not apply because isn't the public safety at stake?
Thanks anoldafvet; I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one who saw a problem with people chatting, texting, while they were driving down a busy road.
I have seen countless people do stupid stuff, pulling out in front of people.. meandering across yellow lines, endangering others on the nation’s roads and highways - heck, even parking lots! - with those stupid things stuck in their ears. I have avoided wrecks dozens of times with these people... and most often they are women and teens.
Something needs to be done about this.. and I for one am glad to see someone trying. If you need to use the phone while you are driving, pull off the shoulder or into a parking area and do it. If someone calls, their number remains.. a couple of minutes to get to a stopping place might be an inconvenience *Lord help if American people have to wait for ‘anything’ these days* but it is the safe responsible thing to do.
I’m all for banning talking on a cell phone when driving, flame on ....
Shut up and drive!
I can speak from my own experience that it is difficult to concentrate when in a discussion while driving.
Aren't there already laws in place to cover erratic/unsafe driving? Do we really need yet another law to placate your desire for ever more nanny state legislation?
Wow.
So you're on record then, saying that if it is not a specifically unambiguous enumerated right specifically spelled out in the Constitution that it doesn't exist?
All I can say is, wow.
Unless answering the call causes a quick emergency.
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