Should cell phone usage or texting be a moving violation?

Feelings run high when it comes to the issue of cell phone use and texting while driving. Everyone has an opinion, but we may be light years away from any consensus!

Even the celebrities can’t agree. Oprah Winfrey asked her employees to sign a pledge against cell phone usage in cars. While, Maria Shriver was busted over her cell phone usage --caught not once, not twice, but THREE times talking on her cell phone while driving. Maria’s husband – Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California – signed a law banning the use of cell phones without a hands-free device. He had to cut Maria some slack.

All this brings us to the issue of enforceability. Even if everyone begrudgingly agrees we’d be safer on the road if no one was using a cell phone, are such laws enforceable? Look at the lack of effectiveness of prohibition in the 1920s — or look at the federal 55 MPH speed limit of the 1980s, or the mandatory use of safety belts. Laws don’t necessarily change human behavior.

Will insurance companies get into the act and charge a premium for drivers who use cell phones in their cars, or will they charge all of us a premium? Would that change behavior?

Is there something of a generational gap regarding this issue? Would most people over 35 agree that texting while driving should be banned? Would many people over 65 agree that cell phone usage of any kind in a moving vehicle should be banned?

I’m betting not many cell phone users of any age would be happy to give up their phones for talking in their cars – hands-free or otherwise.

Some argue that distracted driving is the real problem. Well, other adults talking in the car, using the radio or CD player, talking to/managing small children in the back seat – these are all possible distractions. Should they be banned too?

Slowly, individual states are passing laws about cell phone use and texting (texting will be the subject of another blog – because it’s really an issue above and beyond mundane cell phone usage for conversations.) Let’s look at what states have enacted into law so far.

The Governors Highway Safety Association, a nonprofit organization representing the state and territorial highway safety offices that implement programs to address behavioral highway safety issues has posted on its web site the following information about cell phone usage laws, as of February 2010:

• Handheld Cell Phones: 6 states (California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington), and D.C. and the Virgin Islands prohibit all drivers from using handheld cell phones while driving.


• All Cell Phone Use: No state completely bans all types of cell phone use (handheld and hands-free) for all drivers, but many prohibit cell phone use by some drivers:


• Text Messaging: 19 states, the District of Columbia and Guam now ban text messaging for all drivers. 15 states, D.C., and Guam have primary enforcement. In the other four, texting bans for all drivers are secondarily enforced. Some states limit texting by specific drivers:


• Distracted Driving: Some states, such as Maine, New Hampshire and Utah treat cell phone use and texting as part of a larger distracted driving issue. Utah considers cell phone use to be an offense only if a driver is also committing some other moving violation (other than speeding).

Crash Data Collection: Many states include a category for cell phone/electronic equipment distraction on police accident report forms. Recently proposed federal legislation would require states to collect this data in order to qualify for certain federal funding.

Preemption Laws: In some states without comprehensive cell phone or texting bans, localities have enacted their own distracted driving laws. However, six of these states (Fla., Ky., La., Miss., Nev., and Okla.) have preemption laws that prohibit localities from enacting such bans.

To view a chart showing the specific state-level cell phone and text messaging bans and Enforcement type (primary vs. secondary) visit:

http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html

Share your opinion: Should cell phone usage, including texting, be banned while driving?