Cell phone use while driving was back in the news last week after the National Transportation Safety Board called for a 50-state ban on all use of “portable electronic devices” while driving.
No state bans all cell phone use but nine currently prohibit the use of handheld phones and 30 ban cell phone use by new drivers. Thirty-five states outlaw texting.
I live in Florida, one of the rare states that have no restrictions on cell phone use whatsoever, and the practice seems to be epidemic. I believe that people deliberately wait until they’re in the car to make their calls because it’s the sort of “multi-tasking” that saves time. There’s nothing else to do in the car anyway, so why not make use of the time and return phone calls?
On a routine 20-mile drive I conducted a random count and found about one in four drivers yapping on the phone.
I’m an offender myself, but I do it hands-free, and I won’t text while I’m on the road. (As you’ll see below, there’s good reason to not even do hands-free. The best bet is to pull over.)
For a complete run-down of state laws — and it’s a hodge-podge — check the Governors Highway Safety Association website.
You might think that the NTSB would be wiser to press for a 50-state cell phone ban that still allows hands-free use, as they have in Maryland, California and seven other states.
But a study last year by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that state bans like the one in California don’t reduce crashes. Apparently, the risk of a crash for distracted driving is the same for a hands-free cell user as it is in someone holding the phone.
Also, the law is unevenly enforced.
It’s temping to conclude that if you’re using a hands-free device it’s basically no different than talking to a passenger in the car. But I think what happens is that cell phone users are mentally “transported” to another place, perhaps visualizing the person they’re talking to. Their brain is not sifting through and analyzing the visual information coming at them from the road.
Will the NTSB recommendation lead to cell phone bans throughout the country? I’m betting that it won’t.
It’s now so ingrained in the culture that people will use a cell phone even if it’s against the law. According to the NTSB, the cell ownership rate in the U.S. “exceeds 100 percent.” I assume that means that every adult in the country has a cell phone, and some have two.
It may be up to the insurance industry to curb cell phone use. Just like health insurers give discounts to non-smokers, auto insurers could offer discounts to drivers who agree not to use a cell on the road.
If they violate the agreement — records are available and can be subpoenaed — they have to pay a financial penalty.
Money talks, and it doesn’t need a cell phone to communicate.
Photo: A road sign warns of a ban on texting in a Texas town. Via Flickr.com.
