Thursday, December 15, 2011
Law and Order Should Cell Phone Use While Driving Be Banned?
Posted by Jack Silverman on Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 6:38 AM
- Photo: textually.org
But now there's a movement afoot to ban all non-emergency cellphone use while driving — including hands-free and headset calls. On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a report making just such a recommendation, in the wake of a terrible 2010 accident in Missouri involving two school buses, a bobtail and a passenger vehicle.
The recommendation:
To the 50 states and the District of Columbia:
(1) Ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed to support the driving task) for all drivers; (2) use the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration model of high visibility enforcement to support these bans; and (3) implement targeted communication campaigns to inform motorists of the new law and enforcement, and to warn them of the dangers associated with the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices while driving. (H-11-XX)
Already, the recommendation is prompting backlash from outlets like PC Magazine and social media news blog Mashable. (As I wrote this post, Mashable's online poll showed 70 percent of readers opposing the ban.)
Honestly, I'm conflicted. I don't text while driving, but I do make and receive cellphone calls from time to time. I like to think that I'm paying even greater attention while I'm on the phone, to compensate for any potential distraction. But is that really the case? Am I deceiving myself?
I'm not sure such a ban will ever pass here in Tennessee, certainly not in the near future. But is it a good idea? Are we too addicted to our cellphones to think clearly on the topic? Or is the NTSB going overboard?
Comments (15)
Showing 1-15 of 15
Of course it's a good idea. Numerous studies have shown that talking on the phone - any type of phone - takes your mind away from your immediate surroundings, slows reaction times, and slows down the brain's processing of visual information. It's basically like driving drunk. The NY Times has been running a series on this issue, called "Driven to Distraction," for several years. One article tells the story of my stepmother, Linda Doyle, who died after a driver on his cellphone drove through a red light and broadsided her. He wasn't texting and he wasn't fumbling with his handheld device - he was just talking, and he saw neither the red light nor her Toyota SUV. The story's here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/technolo…
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You have never been hauling down the Interstate and run into an inexplicable knot of vehicles that drop the speed down 20 MPH? Only to see the instigator is some fucking moron who has no spatial sense while being reamed out by the boss / wife / mistress? The louder the boss yells, the less pressure is applied to the accelerator it seems. Or maybe it's just heavy breathing?
Never sat a green light while the car in front of you remains motionless?
What exactly has to be discussed at length at 6 in the morning that simply cannot wait until you are done motoring?
I keep my cell in my ass pocket while driving. I get a nice pleasurable buzz job and make a note to call back when I am motionless.
From Dan Simons, author of "The Invisible Gorilla . . . and Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us" about a previous ban aimed at just hand held calls while driving:
"Reducing the distracting effects of cell phones on driving is a good goal, and LaHood has been an active advocate for trying to eliminate needless distractions. Unfortunately, this enforcement campaign spreads misinformation by implying that it’s the 'hand-held' aspect of cell phone use that causes the problem. In reality, the real distraction has nothing to do with having both hands on the wheel — it’s the conversation itself (coupled with the challenge of communicating with someone not in the car). Using a hands-free phone doesn’t eliminate the distraction, and it might even given people a false sense of confidence if they think that switching to a hands-free phone makes them safer.
"Most of the laws banning cell phone use while driving have focused inappropriately and exclusively on hand-held phones. Whether or not cell phone use while driving should be regulated is a political question, but the cause of the distraction is an empirical one. Public officials do a disservice when they fail to convey the real reasons why using a cell phone while driving is dangerous."
http://theinvisiblegorilla.com/blog/2010/0…
If you are unfamiliar with the gorilla experiment, by all means go view the original video: http://youtu.be/vJG698U2Mvo
Does anyone else listen to their iPod in the car? Read the wording of the recommendation again very carefully.
There are other things to consider about a ban. A positive would be the increase of monies to government coffers from the citations written. A negative would be that unemployment is already a national problem and with a ban in place many EMTs would lose their jobs. Do we really want that?
"I like to think that I'm paying even greater attention while I'm on the phone, to compensate for any potential distraction. But is that really the case? Am I deceiving myself?"
Yes, you're deceiving yourself. There's a fair body of evidence that cell phone conversations reduce driving performance, even when conducted hands-free, and much more so than conversations with in-car passengers. Some studies have suggested the performance decline while talking on a phone is comparable to that of mild drinking.
You could start here, which came from just a very quick pass at the literature: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/c…
Although I understand the positives of passing a law such as this one, I really don't like the idea of the government telling me what I can and cannot do... yet again.
I'll trade you:
You can use your cellphone (and, by all means, the all-attention-demanding texting feature) while you are supposed to be in control of a multi-ton vehicle that is moving at the speed of death AND ...
I get to pepper-spray you if you run me off the road (again) while doing so.
Is that o.k. with all y'all?
The main reason that I don't do it, is because it's true! STOP DOING IT! I vote yes, yes ,yes!
All my close encounters with cars while cycling have been with idiots driving and talking on a cell phone. Even at 6 AM. Who do you call at 6 AM?
@Rachel W.
I realize you are right. I've gotten much better about my cellphone use while driving, and have even pulled over in a parking lot to return calls. Can't say I'm 100 percent cured, but getting there. And I never text while driving. That's plain nuts.
So today, 12/15/2011, a bill that strips Americans of all their rights based on what they say and sitting on the Presidents desk to be signed and your worried about cell phone usage and driving. Don't worry another couple of years and our government won't let us even talk face-2-face anyway.
I am against banning all cell-phone use while driving. Cell phones are really useful while you're traveling--has anyone ever, like, run into trouble on the road, had a very important call he needed to take, or had a business call he didn't need to miss? I talk on my cell phone while driving--occasionally--and as Jack said, I am VERY aware I'm talking on my cell phone, and I have no compunction about losing the call or hanging up or asking the other person to wait until I can talk more freely. But if I'm tooling along on a clear road with litle traffic and I want to check in with my loved ones, I think I should be allowed to do; and a good driver is an AWARE driver on all levels, whether it's an issue of fiddling with your CD changer or your phone. Any person with common sense knows that driving is the first priority; you can't legislate common sense, unfortunately, or by now our society would be perfect.
A law banning ALL cell-phone use while driving would mean that the person who needs to call AAA or respond to, or deal with, any number of emergencies would be breaking the law. This is very different from the person who is chatting away at the intersection of Wedgewood and 8th Ave. South and makes us all miss the light. Banning all use is a totally ridiculous, draconian approach to this problem.
