NTSB Backs Limited Car Cell-Phone Ban (government intervention alert)

Yahoo! News ^ | June 3, 2003 | DEE-ANN DURBIN

[El Conservador]

WASHINGTON - The National Transportation Safety Board (news - web sites) recommended Tuesday that all states immediately pass laws prohibiting inexperienced drivers from using cell phones while behind the wheel.

Only New Jersey now bans holders of learners permits or intermediate licenses from using cell phones, pagers or other wireless (news - web sites) devices while driving. The board wants the 49 other states to adopt similar laws.

The board also recommended that the federal government expand driver education programs to include information on how much cell phones and other devices distract drivers.

"When you're on the phone in the car, it's not like you're on the phone in your living room," said board chairwoman Ellen Engleman.

The recommendations were made after the board reviewed a February 2002 accident in which a 20-year-old Maryland driver with little experience flipped over her SUV and landed on a minivan. The driver and four others were killed.

A federal investigation showed that the driver was talking on her cell phone when a wind gust hit her SUV. Federal investigators said she was slow to respond because she was on the phone.

A Harvard study released last year estimated that about one in 20 U.S. traffic accidents involve a driver talking on a cell phone.

Though the study's data was incomplete, the research from the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis suggested that drivers talking on their phones are responsible for about 6 percent of U.S. auto accidents each year, killing an estimated 2,600 people and injuring 330,000 others.

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On the Net:

http://www.ntsb.gov/

[El Conservador]

Big Brother at his worst...

[lunatic12]

Hang up and Drive

[Archangelsk]

NTSB can only recommend not regulate or enforce. It's up to the states to decide whether to implement a ban partial or otherwise.

[sinkspur]

Big Brother at his worst...

Actually, this is a very good thing.

Goofy teenagers with no distractions are horrible drivers; give 'em a cell phone, and the car becomes a lethal missle!

[flashbunny]

Some stats and studies to counter the nanny culture:

Distracted drivers pose safety hazard, according to new UNC Highway Safety Research Center study

The study found that drivers were most often distracted by something outside their vehicle (29.4 percent) followed by adjusting a radio or CD player (11.4 percent). Other distractions included talking with other occupants (10.9 percent), adjusting vehicle or climate controls (2.8 percent), eating or drinking (1.7 percent), cell-phone use (1.5 percent) and smoking (0.9 percent).

Cell Phones: Hands-Free Not Risk-Free

Study says use of phones while driving cuts attention, response time.

Lost in Thought

Study: All cell phones distract drivers

[microgood]

Goofy teenagers with no distractions are horrible drivers; give 'em a cell phone, and the car becomes a lethal missle!

They are not stopping there. That is just to get the foot in the door. Then hands-free, then all adults. It will start as a secondary offense and then move to a primary offense. Standard operating procedure in the ever growing nanny government.

[sinkspur]

Then hands-free, then all adults.

That's fine with me. I don't use a cell-phone in the car, but I've narrowly missed being hit by irresponsible drivers who were yapping on the phone while attempting to navigate a narrow-two lane at 70 mph.

[Aliska]

If people governed themselves and did the sensible thing, we wouldn't need all these laws.

[microgood]

That's fine with me.

I understand there are idiots out there. But these laws seem to cater to the lowest common denominator. If one person uses a phone irresponsibly, ban all people from using them. If one person uses a gun irresponsibly, ban all guns. This is fine in kindergarten but adults are supposed to have freedoms and the responsibility that goes with it.

[sinkspur]

This is fine in kindergarten but adults are supposed to have freedoms and the responsibility that goes with it.

Lots of folks think they can drink six beers and drive safely, too.

Wanna talk on the phone in the car? Pull off on the shoulder, or into a parking lot, and use the phone. Then, PUT IT AWAY, and focus on driving.

[microgood]

Wanna talk on the phone in the car? Pull off on the shoulder, or into a parking lot, and use the phone. Then, PUT IT AWAY, and focus on driving.

To set the record straight, I don't even have a cell phone. But I do smoke, and they are coming for smoking in cars next. I guess the next car I buy will have very darkly tinted windows.

[flashbunny]

hmmm, cell phones account for a meager 1.5 % of accidents involving inattentive driving. Imagine the accidents being caused by drivers pulling over, sometimes accross 2 or 3 lanes to the shoulder, every time the make or receive a call. yeah, that will be much safer.

[sinkspur]

hmmm, cell phones account for a meager 1.5 % of accidents involving inattentive driving. Imagine the accidents being caused by drivers pulling over, sometimes accross 2 or 3 lanes to the shoulder, every time the make or receive a call. yeah, that will be much safer.

If one needs to make a call, one could certainly anticipate that, and not have to sweep across 2 or 3 lanes.

Don't answer cell phones in the car. Ever.

[motzman]

So how does the local donut-muncher know who is driving with a permit or a "restricted" license? Can anyone tell the difference between a 16 and a 21 year old at 65mph? It's obvious to all but the most clueless that this is just another reason to pull someone over. Just like seatbelts.

I drive between 30-40k miles per year, and use a cell phone very frequently. Living in the Socialist Republic of North Jersey, I now have the pleasure of not being sure where I can "legally" conduct business on the phone, or not. Each little fiefdom has it's own revenue enhancement schemes that are not possible to track, until it's too late. And those damn "hands-free" thingies are more of a distraction than a help. The bottom line is that if you not capable of using a cell phone while driving you should not be allowed to drive in the first place.

The problem (that no one seems to want to admit) is that there are a boatload of really bad drivers out there. Bring a fifty with you, and have the ability to fog a mirror, and you get a license.

These bad drivers were bad drivers before there were cell phones, but now it's easier to identify them. The worst are the old people---get them off the road now.

[Salman]

Next up: Limited baby on board ban. After all, a crying baby is much more of a distraction than a beeping cell phone and much less ignorable.

Only babies accompanied by a caregiver in addition to the driver are to be permitted in the car.

[tdadams]

The report out today says this young woman had just bought the SUV that day and had made or received 15 calls in the four hours before the crash.

Maybe I'm being a curmudgeon, but I just picture this dizzy blonde calling all her friends and saying, "Like, Oh my gosh, you won't believe what I just got!"