The National Transportation Safety Board recently proposed a nationwide ban on using cell phones while driving, although they are now reconsidering it. This ban would include talking or texting, in hand or hands-free.
It's already illegal in many jurisdictions to talk on a cell phone while driving. California comes to mind, where it's okay to communicate via cell only if using Bluetooth. It might also be illegal to text and drive in some states, Michigan being one.
I'm all for following the letter of the law, and I obey the local covenants. I can see the impetus for such a proclamation, and that would be for public safety on our highways. Distracted driving can cost you your life. Being in the traffic safety business, I agree with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that new drivers especially are not equipped to deal with an overload of distractions a normal, modern teenager might have to contend with. Like everything in life, the route to mastery doesn't happen in a heartbeat. The only road to continued safe driving is practice, and lots of it.
That being said, I am wondering how a nationwide law of this type can be implemented. There are millions of cars on the road, and not enough law enforcement. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to transform the thinking of that many people. Seat belts have been required equipment for decades, yet there are still traffic deaths attributed to the lack of seat belt use.
The American love affair with the car isn't just legend, it's real. The car can be our own private island, a cocoon that shields us from the outside world. I like to jump in and decompress. A car is not just a handy method of transportation. It can represent wealth (think luxury vehicles), or a love affair with power (think Corvettes), or even smug living (think hybrids). People eat, sleep, and groom in their cars. I'm currently learning conversational Japanese in mine. Courtships are germinated, and lovemaking takes place in cars. (Yes. Even while the cars are in motion.)
Many people work while driving, my husband included. He racks up many thousands of cellular minutes while driving from one location to another. It's not that he can't make telephone calls in the office, he can't make uninterrupted phone calls in the office. I imagine he's not the only one wheeling and dealing and putting out fires while on the road to Saginaw.
Article comments
1 - Jon Sobel
I don't buy this argument at all. While I'm driving I listen to music, talk to other people in the car, etc. but I know from personal experience that having a conversation with someone over the phone is a very different order of distraction. Certainly holding a phone or any electronic device and using it should be illegal while driving. And apparently the evidence shows hands-free phone conversations are unacceptably dangerous too, although I haven't tried this myself.
2 - Igor
How about a spouse who starts an argument when YOU are driving? Maybe spouse figures "Aha!I've got co-spouse trapped behind the wheel, now I can start that vital argument about living room drapes!"
3 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Yea, I'd have to agree with Jon. There's something definitely different between listening to a CD while driving & talking on a cell phone. I guess the CD is just easier to ignore when a traffic issue arises. As for the people who put on make-up while driving, they need to be arrested NOT just fined.