Safety Group Seeks Ban for All Cellphone Use While Driving
The National Safety Council called Monday for a total ban on the use of cellphones and other wireless devices while driving, including calls made with hands-free devices. That would go further than prohibitions in several states, which ban the use of cellphones without a hands-free device or sometimes just calls made by teenage drivers. But the council said distraction of drivers is they main problem.
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“When you're on a call, even if both hands are on the wheel, your head is in the call, and not on your driving,” said Janet Froetscher, the council’s president. “Unlike the passenger sitting next to you, the person on the other end of the call is oblivious to your driving conditions.”
The council said it’s urging businesses across the U.S. to bar employees from using phones while behind the wheel and will write letters to governors and legislators across the U.S. calling for a complete ban on cellphone use while driving. The group led efforts to get states to ticket drivers for failing to use seat belts. “We believe the same kind of culture and behavior change must -- and can -- be achieved to stop cell phone use while driving,” the group said.
John Walls, a CTIA vice president, said in response that “safe, sensible, and limited use of a cellphone when you're behind the wheel is possible.” Walls acknowledged that under some driving conditions, calls should not be made or taken. But “calls to or from day care, the school nurse, your boss… there’s a long list of very real scenarios that illustrate practical needs to responsibly make or take a brief call,” he said.
“We view this as a very long-term process,” council spokesman John Ulczycki said in an interview. “It has taken us many years to get to where we are in seat belt laws and even today only half the states have primary seat belt laws. We know it’s very difficult and it'll take a long time, but we needed to start the process.” Ulczycki said the group is recruiting lawmakers in various states to introduce legislation. He said the group made carriers aware before the announcement it would seek total ban.
No study has shown that use of hands-free devices makes cellphone use while driving safe, Ulczycki said. “I'm actually concerned about hands-free devices being counterproductive, that actually they could contribute to more crashes,” he said. “If people think that they're safer because they have a hands-free device, and make more calls… they have just actually increased their exposure to the hazard.” He also questioned how many “true emergencies” occur when a driver cannot pull to the roadside to take a call from a teenager at home or to report an accident. “I think we define the word emergency much too loosely,” he said.
The group pointed to a recent study by the Harvard Center of Risk Analysis, which estimated that cellphone use while driving contributes to 6 percent of all crashes in the U.S. - 636,000 a year, producing 12,000 serious injuries and 2,600 deaths. The District of Columbia and six states ban cellphone use without a hands-free device. And 17 states prohibit cellphone use by inexperienced drivers.