C.A. Smyth
Letter to the Editor, Daily Illini, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, October 18, 2006

Last week’s Point-Counterpoint on banning cell phone usage by vehicle drivers did a very good job of covering the issue. The major weakness of the counter point and the reason to call for legislation is the claim that there are already laws on the books that would deal with inattentive drivers that cause or are involved in accidents.

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.

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.

Research suggests that driving while yakking (DWY) on a cell phone is as bad or worse than driving drunk (research conducted at this University in the lab of Prof. Art Kramer). 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.