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Posted by Rachel Balducci in Family on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 3:01 PM
A new recommendation by the NTSB calls for a ban on cell phones while driving.
Washington (CNN)—Federal accident investigators Tuesday called for a nationwide ban on the use of cell phones and text messaging devices while driving.
The recommendation is the most far-reaching yet by the National Transportation Safety Board, which in the past 10 years has increasingly sought to limit the use of portable electronic devices. It has recommended such bans for novice drivers, school bus drivers and commercial truckers.
The new recommendation, if adopted by states, would outlaw non-emergency phone calls and texting by operators of every vehicle on the road.
It would not apply to hand-free devices or to passengers.
Perhaps some of you already use a headset or an earpiece? I’ve tried to get in the habit, but here and there will forget to bring the headset in the car. As for texting, I definitely don’t do that while driving, but have to admit that at the first red light I’m inclined to check messages. I have the best luck when I just put the phone deep in my purse and pull it out once the car is in park.
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Here in Australia, you can get a fine just for holding a phone in your hand, even if you are using it to play music, not actually talking or texting. It does cut down on the number of accidents. I still see plenty of people talking on phones while turning corners.
In my state, cell phone use (without a headset) while driving has been illegal for quite a while. I have no desire to talk on my cell phone while driving. Actually, I don’t have much desire to talk on my cell phone at all (or my home phone for that matter, but particularly my cell phone). I only give my cell phone# to my husband, my son’s preschool, and a few other people, and I make it clear that I don’t want calls unless it’s really important. Email is my first choice for communication, as I can check it when it’s convenient for me rather than being interrupted by it. Home phone is my second choice. When I’m on the go, I really don’t want to be interrupted, which is why I don’t give my cell phone# to many people. That being said, if my phone rings when I’m driving, and my son is not with me at the time, I do answer it (even though it’s illegal), in case there’s something urgent going on with my son.
Cell phone usage while driving, texting while driving, even holding a portable GPS unit while driving has been illegal up here in Ontario for a year now. My SIL got a $245 fine for answering her phone as she pulled into a parking lot. Common sense tells me that I probably shouldn’t text while I’m driving, but what’s next? The government fining and regulating everything. It’s terrible here in Canada. Big government everything.
Good luck with enforcement. What’s next - banning changing the radio or talking to your kids in the car? What about eating or smoking? I used to smoke while driving a stick shift back in the day, I think that’s a tad bit more dangerous than driving while talking on a headset.
In all honesty, driving while on the phone IS more dangerous - it’s roughly equivalent to drunk driving (http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp0910137). We ban drunk driving because it’s dangerous for others. Given the danger of driving while on the phone - headset or not - to others, I think it is an appropriate thing to regulate.
Here in California it’s been illegal to text or talk on the phone without a hands free device for years. I love it. Enevitably, the car wandering in its lane is someone doing one of those two things. I worked in the courts at the time the law went into effect and we had a lot of very angry people. Hardly anyone is angry now, they see the benifits and complain about the ones who don’t obey the law.
I have a friend from college whose done some of the research on cell phones and driving. It’s not holding it in your hand that causes the most trouble. It’s talking to another person that is distracting. Hands-free is not brain-free. My take is that if the other person is in the car with you, they will pause the conversation while you deal with a tricky bit. If they aren’t, they’ll take your pause as an excuse to start talking.
I won’t drive with an audiobook either. Way too distracting. I can feel it stealing my attention from the road.
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