Cell Phone Ban Talking Points

(Charlie Smyth, 10/28/2006)

Several studies now show that talking on a cell phone while driving is among the worse of vehicle distractions and leads to much higher accident rates. You are four times more likely to have an accident while using a cell phone.

The longer you are distracted, the more likely you are to have an accident. And it’s worse if you try dialing your phone or text messaging.  Text messaging by drivers is illegal in Great Britain and Germany as I understand it.

Research at the University of Illinois suggests that driving while yakking (DWY) [talking on a cell phone] is as bad as driving drunk (see research of Prof. Art Kramer). In fact, it’s as bad as the state standard for drunk driving of .08%. Driving while yakking isn’t driving distracted, it’s actually driving impaired. Do we need to wait 20 or 30 years to enact laws similar to those that currently apply to DUI?  We need laws that have teeth for inattentive drivers that don’t have the common sense to realize they are driving a lethal weapon.

We need to develop an educational campaign that teaches drivers that they have a responsibility to concentrate on their driving. We have educational campaigns for seat belt and helmet usage, driving while intoxicated and so on. These campaigns should add distractions AND technological impairments.

Many don’t think it applies to them, that it would never happen to them, that they can handle their booze or their cell phones, but it only takes a few seconds for the unexpected to happen.

I think that we have come to treat vehicles like forces of nature. They’re not. They’re the product of our technology and if you are going to drive, you need to do so responsibly.

We would like to see people recognize the seriousness of distracted and inattentive driving and pledge to not use cell phones and similar technology.  Laws are needed to legislate common sense for those who don’t get it on their own.

We need a law because it seems that in Illinois there are no consequences for mowing down pedestrians, bicyclists, mailboxes, signs, other vehicles, and so on by so called distracted drivers. [You would probably get in more trouble drinking underage in a bar in Campustown.]  In Illinois, killing someone while driving and using a cell phone is just “an accident”. We should be outraged.

By Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz’s own comments on Matt Wilhelm’s death by a cell phone using driver, there was nothing to go on to charge this person with anything more than illegal lane usage as cited in the State Police report. This driver will pay at most a $1000 fine and suffer no serious legal consequences for her actions. If she had had a beer in her hand, we know what would have happened.

Thirty-five states have vehicular homicide laws. Delaware is the only state that I’ve found that has any real law on inattentive driving. If you kill someone while inattentive, there are real fines and consequences. I’m interested in a law at the state level that recognizes driving as a serious responsibility that takes full concentration. If you consciously allow yourself to get distracted, like by using a cell phone, and you have an accident, then you should be considered at fault with appropriate consequences. Yes, accidents happen but we also have 44,000 automobile related deaths a year and many of them are preventable.

Loss of respect for the law results from having no consequences to someone who causes damage, injury or death from something totally preventable.

Enforceability of cell phone usage laws would be much as with driving while intoxicated. People are noted driving erratically and pulled over. Unfortunately, it’s typically an accident that leads to charges of DUI and I would expect that accidents caused by cell phone and other similar interactive technologies should be dealt with in the same manner. The criminal charges, insurance consequences, and driving privilege loss of driving while impaired be it intoxication or from a cell phone related accident should be the same. Laws on cell phone usage should be essentially the same, with similar consequences, to driving while under the influence.

Private companies and some US governmental agencies are banning the use of cell phones, including hands-free, by their employees, Exxon’s ban covers some 80,000 employees and subcontractors. I have to think that the reason is the simple fact that they would be liable should an accident occur while the employee is conducting business while driving a company vehicle. People were able to work just fine before cell phones. Yes, phones really add to efficiency and great for keeping up with our kids but we need to use them responsibly.

Isn’t it interesting that many states ban the use of cell phones by bus drivers? Why? Because they’re driving our kids and we know that cell phones are dangerous.  And a number of states, including Illinois, ban the use of cell phones by younger drivers (17 and under in Illinois). In fact the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) is recommending that all states ban the use of cell phones for all those under the age of 25.

Local legislation can help generate the grassroots support needed to build pressure on the state legislature. We don’t have the money to work for change directly in Springfield but we can mobilize local communities to demand change in their cities and counties. This in turn puts pressure on their local legislators and can be used to counteract the clout of the big business interests that may oppose this. However, we would hope that the state Insurance industries will be supportive.