Recent Laws being enacted or proposed to ban cell phone use while driving are an overreaction by misinformed politicians.
They are basing their decision on ill-informed public opinion rather than actual scientific data.
Over the last 10 years, cell phone use has increased exponentially, yet traffic accidents and traffic fatalities have gone down over the same time period.
The AAA and other studies consistently rate cell phone use below several other driving distractions.
(Interestingly, there are no bans being proposed anywhere for the top rated distractions.)
Studies show an intense conversation (with a passenger or on a phone) is one of the highest driving distractions, yet the public wrongly perceives that hands-free devices somehow make these conversations safer, ignoring scientific data.
Studies also show that a casual conversation on a cell phone is no more distracting than the same conversation with a passenger.
How many people will support a ban on talking with passengers while driving?
And people that support a ban only on texting and not on cell phone use need to realize that the texting laws are just a way for the misguided big government politicians to get their foot in the door.
They have stated publicly that their intent is to expand the texting laws to ban all cell phone use while driving.
There may be some people who misuse their cell phones. But it is an insult to the rest of the responsible cell phone users to presume that they need the government to tell them when and where they can use their phones.
The government representatives trying to pass laws that will effect all of us should take a little time to research actual data rather than responding blindly to misinformed public opinion.
There are already laws for unsafe driving that can be applied to those that misuse their cell phones.
There is no need to outlaw responsible cell phone use by responsible people. Article
II, Section 2 of the Arizona Constitution states the primary function of our State government is to
protect individual rights. (not to limit them) www.azleg.gov
Everyone can agree that talking on a cell phone can be distracting to a
driver to some degree. Actually, anything other than the road ahead can
be distracting to a driver. The question is where to draw the line with
laws. When radios where first installed in cars, it was feared that
they would be too distracting to the driver. According to the University of North Carolina Highway Research Safety Center,
the biggest distractions are outside the car. Things like a cute girl on the
sidewalk or traffic accidents. Followed by adjusting audio controls and
then other occupants. The study shows that even eating is more
distracting than using a cell phone. So why should the guy with a hamburger
get a pass while someone on a phone gets a ticket? Does it really make any sense
to ban one specific distraction and ignore all the others? By excluding
GPS map systems from the laws, lawmakers are sending out a message that it is
safer to read and fiddle with a dashboard map while driving than it is to
talk on a phone. And they are inferring that talking with other
passengers is less distracting than talking on a phone, despite AAA studies and others that show that it is the conversation, not the
device that is distracting. Proponents of cell phone bans try to use a few recent
deaths that may have been caused by cell phone use to sensationalize their
cause. What do you think our law
makers would do if 17,000 people were killed each year by cell phone use? Apparently
nothing. That's what they're doing about the 17,000 deaths caused each year
by drunk driving. Does Farley have any bills pending to help reduce
drunk driving deaths? If saving lives is their goal, they should be
focusing on bigger problems, not a few fluke accidents. Although even
one death is a tragedy, we can't ban everything that could be dangerous.
Over 40,000 people are killed in automobile accidents each year.
"40,000 EVERY YEAR!" Should we ban cars? So, where to
draw the line. We already have laws against unsafe driving. There is no reason to
pass laws for each individual possible driver distraction. And it is
even more unreasonable to pass laws banning only one or two specific
distractions that are not even toward the top of the list. If an
officer sees someone with a phone (or any other distraction) driving
recklessly, they can be stopped under the current laws. There is no reason to
stop a cell phone user that is driving safely.
Article
II, Section 2 of the Arizona Constitution states the primary function of our State government is to
protect individual rights. (not to limit them) www.azleg.gov
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