• 14
  • December
    2011

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), cell phones killed 3092 people in car crashes in 2010. Cell phones not only take our hands off the steering wheel and eyes off the road; they also take our minds off driving. For example, someone who is texting while driving or reading an email can have a reaction time equal to - or worse! - than that of a drunk driver.

That is why the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is recommending that all states ban cell phone use while driving. While the NTSB has fought to limit cell phone use by teenage drivers, truck drivers and school bus drivers, this is the first time it has recommended a complete ban on cell phone use in every vehicle.

This recommendation comes after a serious distracted driving accident in Missouri, which injured 38 people and killed 2, including a 15-year-old riding in a school bus. According to the NTSB, the accident was caused by a pickup truck driver who had sent 11 text messages immediately before the chain-reaction crash.

"An Epidemic"

"This is becoming the new DUI," NTSB member Robert Sumwalt said, calling cell phone use while driving "an epidemic." A survey released by the NHTSA last week shows that one in six drivers, and nearly half of all drivers under 25, text while driving.

While 35 states currently ban texting while driving and nine states ban handheld cell phone use while driving, none of the states ban all cell phone use. Only commercial drivers are banned from using hand-held cell phones behind the wheel - a ban which the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopted on November 23, 2011.

If state governments adopt the NTSB recommendation, almost all non-emergency cell phone use, including phone calls and texting, by all drivers would be banned.

Most likely, the NTSB recommendations will not lead to direct action by state governments anytime soon. Some states have even had trouble passing texting while driving laws (such as Florida). For now, the NTSB hopes the recommendations will spur debate and eventually lead to cell phone bans as well as stronger enforcement of the bans currently in place.

Source: USA Today, "NTSB: All States Should Ban Cellphone Use While Driving," Bart Jansen, Dec. 13, 2011.