Driven to distraction
(One in a series of editorials about America's car culture.)
BICYCLISTS SAY THESE motorists are indistinguishable from drunk drivers. Truckers honk when they stray from their lanes. Regular drivers watch for their last-minute swerves down a side street or onto an exit ramp.
They -- it will come as no surprise -- are drivers using cellphones.
Everyone has personal stories of accidents or near misses, but studies are now coming in that make it clear: Cellphone use by drivers in motion is a menace, and a growing one.
Motorists using cellphones are four times as likely to be in an accident as those who aren't, according to a study last year in Australia. A Harvard study estimates that 6 percent of US accidents, and 2,600 deaths a year, are linked to cellphones. Even so, the number of drivers using a cellphone at any given time rose from 5 to 6 percent nationally between 2004 and 2005, according to a report last month from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Among drivers 16 to 24 years old, frighteningly, it was up to 10 percent.
It is time for Massachusetts to put a stop to the practice. It is not a matter of personal freedom when distracted drivers endanger others' lives and limbs, or even when they bang a few thousand fenders, driving up everyone's insurance premiums.
Last year, Connecticut and the city of Chicago joined New York state, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., in banning the use of hand-held phones by motorists. Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, and Tennessee barred their use by young drivers. But the United States is only catching up with global trends. Some 40 countries, including most of Europe, restrict cellphone use by drivers.
A bill has been filed in Massachusetts that would outlaw only the use of hand-held phones, and another that would apply only to young drivers. But it has been shown that hands-free phones are just as hazardous. And mature drivers who are not paying attention can be as dangerous as young ones.
Representative James Marzilli, an Arlington Democrat who is pushing for an outright ban of all devices, says he fears that the lack of restrictions has given drivers a sense that the use of cellphones ''is a birthright -- like cars themselves." But that must change.
Increasingly, Americans are making multitasking a way of life. But when one of those tasks is piloting a ton of steel, or more, at 100 feet per second, public safety requires a focus on that task alone.
Cellphones are great for emergencies; a driver can pull over and dial 911. But their use should be banned for motorists while in motion. They have proven to be a dangerous distraction. Far too often, 911 is being called because someone was on a cellphone.
Next: Real auto insurance reform 