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MSNBC: Live Vote: Do you
use your phone while driving?
At this time, AAA believes it is premature to ban the use of cell phones while driving.
Ref: http://www.aaapublicaffairs.com/Main/Default.asp?CategoryID=3&SubCategoryID=35&ContentID=42
Will banning hand-held cell phones improve safety?
Not according to current research. A study funded by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety about the effect of cell phone use on driver attention found that the distraction of using a hands-free cell phone and tuning a radio is similar. Regarding the question of banning specific devices such as hand-held cell phones, two facts are clear:
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Banning hand-held phones, but allowing hands-free phones, is likely to have little or no effect on safety. No studies show hands-free phones offer safety advantages over hand-held phones.
The distracting factor is the conversation - not the device itself.
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And no one can legislate when and what drivers think.
Banning hands-free phones won't address the larger issue. Banning hands-free phones will not affect other distracters in the car, which are equally
or more distracting as cell phones.
Ref: http://www.aaaexchange.com/Main/Default.asp?CategoryID=3&SubCategoryID=35&ContentID=91
Ref:
http://www.aaapublicaffairs.com/Main/Default.asp?SectionID=&SubCategoryID=35&CategoryID=3&ContentID=91&
Ref:
http://www.aaapublicaffairs.com/Main/Default.asp?CategoryID=3&SubCategoryID=35
Why are hand-held cell phones at the heart of the debate?
Hand-held cell phones are readily visible to other drivers. When people chance upon a distracted driver and notice a cell phone, they naturally blame the phone.
Most drivers are frustrated when they see inconsiderate, inattentive drivers talking on cell phones.
However, it's more difficult to determine if a distracted driver is talking to a passenger, tuning a radio or eating.
Ref:
http://www.aaaexchange.com/Main/Default.asp?CategoryID=3&SubCategoryID=35&ContentID=91
Top Ten Driver Distractions (hint – cell phone use is way down on the list)
Ref: http://www.hsrc.unc.edu/safety_info/distracted_drowsy/top_ten_driver_distractions.cfm
Ref:
http://www.hsrc.unc.edu/safety_info/distracted_drowsy/congressional_testimony.cfm
Education, not banning, is the key
Ref:
http://www.aaanewsroom.net/Main/Default.asp?CategoryID=7&ArticleID=243
Ref:
http://www.automotivedigest.com/view_art.asp?articlesID=9951
Ref:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2003_August_6/ai_106331956
Government focus should be on drunk driving, not cell phones
U.S. drunk driving deaths rise
WASHINGTON – Alcohol-related deaths on U.S. roads rose to their highest level in 14 years in 2006, while the overall number of people killed in traffic crashes declined slightly but still topped 43,000, according to preliminary government estimates Friday.
The Transportation Department said that drunken driving deaths rose 2.4 percent to 17,941 after a slight decline in 2005. It was the highest level since 1992 when 18,290 deaths were reported.
Alcohol-related fatalities accounted for 41 percent of all traffic deaths
Ref: http://www.thestar.com/News/article/217814
Driving Under the Influence is THE most serious motor vehicle safety issue in our country today.
Ref: http://www.jconder.com/AboutDrunkDriving.asp
The Impact on Driver Cell Phone Use on Accidents
The paper has two key findings. First, the impact of cell phone use on accidents varies
across the population. This result implies that previous estimates of the impact of cell phone use
on risk for the population, based on accident-only samples, may be overstated by about onethird.
Second, once we correct for endogeneity, there is no significant effect of hands-free or
hand-held cell phone use on accidents.
Ref: PDF http://aei-brookings.org/admin/authorpdfs/redirect-safely.php?fname=../pdffiles/Hahn-PriegerREPOST1-4-07.pdf
A Revised Economic Analysis of Restrictions on the Use of Cell Phones While Driving
Two prominent studies that have investigated cell phone use while driving have concluded that the practice
should not be banned. One finds that the benefits of calls made while driving substantially exceed their costs while the other finds that
other interventions could reduce motor vehicle injuries and fatalities (measured in terms of quality adjusted life years) at a lower cost.
Ref: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1539-6924.00286
Graduate students find no match in evening cell phone use spike and crash data
It's conventional wisdom that talking on cell phones while driving is risky business, but two University of California, Berkeley, graduate student economists report that a spike in cell phone use in recent years and on weekday evenings is not matched by an increase in fatal or non-fatal car crashes from 2002-2005.
Ref: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/08/13_cellphone.shtml
In the News:
After 2 years of ban, Connecticut drivers still chat on cell phones
More than 16,000 drivers had cases adjudicated in Superior Courts throughout the state between Jan. 1 and June 30 of this year.
Still, tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of drivers continue to ignore the law or pretend it doesn't
exist.
A recent poll, conducted by a leading maker of hands-free communications equipment, found that only 2 percent of drivers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have been caught violating the law, while at any given time 30 percent or more may be using hand-held phones.
Comment: Sorry, but the biggest distraction does not come from holding the phone, it comes from engaging in a conversation and diverting your attention, not your hand, away from the task of driving the car. Hand-held phones are targeted because they can be observed when assembling anecdotal evidence as does Olenoski in the quote above. Wave a magic wand to make all hand-held phones disappear and be surprised when the accident rate doesn't appreciably diminish.
Comment: Here’s what I think: some people have the judgement and skills to use a cellphone, even a hand-held one, safely while driving. Professional drivers have used CBs and two-way radios while driving for many years, and I don’t recall those ever being mentioned as a big problem. Get cops off the side of the road running radar traps, and get them out there on the roads pulling people over for poor driving - unsafe lane changes, following too closely, wandering in (and often out of) their lane, etc. And make sure all those police cars are camera’ed up so they have evidence of what people were pulled over for.
Oh, sorry, I was in my fantasy land where the purpose of police traffic enforcement is to actually improve road safety, rather than just to generate revenue and get easy speeding convictions. Also where the solution to every problem isn’t a new law, but actually enforcing the existing ones.
Ref: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1904844/posts
Drivers wonder how city will enforce texting ban
"There's obviously some inherent problems with the ordinance," said Cmdr. Frank Milstead
Phoenix police do not plan a widespread enforcement campaign, Milstead said.
Phoenix will also lobby Arizona lawmakers to pass a statewide ban next year
The Phoenix ordinance could touch off a series of local and state legislation regulating the use of wireless devices by motorists. Phoenix passed its ordinance partially in the hope that it would pressure lawmakers to pass a statewide ban when they reconvene in January.
The Arizona Legislature considered a driver text-messaging ban this year but did not act on it. Rep. Steve Farley, the Tucson Democrat who sponsored
the 2007 bill, said Phoenix's ordinance would help the bill gain support.
Ref: http://www.azcentral.com/specials/special12/articles/1127AP-cellphone1127.html
Ref: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0228text0228.html
Here are proposed cell phone bans by Arizona Representatives
(Democrats, naturally.) Prezelski, Garcia M, Sinema: Farley, Gallardo, Lopez, Lujan
(all these bills are apparently dead at this time, no support from rational Representatives)
Ref: HB 2109 http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/legtext/48leg/1r/bills/hb2109p.htm
Ref: HB 2396 http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/legtext/48leg/2r/bills/hb2396p.htm
Ref: HB 2397 http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/legtext/48leg/2r/bills/hb2397p.htm
Make driving while eating illegal?
Sept. 24, 2007
Howard Fischer
Ref: http://www.smokersclubinc.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4676
Tucson Region
Texting ban for drivers has backing on council
Scott and Walkup said they would like to see some data on the subject, and Scott said she wouldn't want to make any decisions until she hears a presentation from police at her Transportation Subcommittee meeting.
"We should only be doing stuff that makes a difference. We shouldn't be engaging in symbolic gestures," Councilman Steve Leal said.
Bitter Smith said that if lawmakers are concerned, they should pass a law making it illegal for drivers to engage in any type of distracting behavior.
Ref: http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/203529
Cell industry crafts law to override text ban
Susan Bitter Smith, lobbyist for the Arizona Competitive Telecommunications Association, said the new Phoenix law unfairly targets cell phone texting by motorists as a cause of accidents. That ordinance, which took effect this week, provides fines up to $100 for drivers who send or receive text messages on cell phones and other handheld devices while their vehicle is moving.
The move came over the objections of the cellular industry, which earlier this year beat back a similar proposal by Rep. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, for a statewide ban on texting while driving.
Farley conceded other activities of motorists can cause accidents but is limiting his measure for political reasons.
Ref: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/97943
?? Login required for Tucson Citizen ??
The big debate: Talking on the phone, in the car
'Not all people who talk on their cell phones are unsafe idiots, but some people should not be allowed to drive, period.'
Ref: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/frontpage/64676.php
Ref: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/local/63946.php
AZstarnet: More letters
Studies show that intense or complex conversations, not holding a phone, are distracting to drivers.
Ref: http://www.azstarnet.com/altds/pastframe/opinion/204825
Do cell phone driver bans work?
In the first few months after New York's highly publicized law took effect, cell phone usage among drivers had dropped by 50 percent, according to a study. But a year later, drivers seemed to return to their old behaviors,
with nearly as many drivers using cell phones as before the law passed, as media emphasis waned, said a 2003 report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Mixed results cited by other states; Senate-passed bill faces uphill fight
Opponents of the legislation question why it singles out cell phones, when drivers also eat, put on makeup or tune the radio, which can be just as distracting and can result in a citation if the behavior leads to an accident. And some question whether the law will be effective,
when studies suggest that conversations, and not the devices, are what divert a driver's focus.
"There is some research that says it's the intensity of the conversation that's going to make the biggest difference and there is some validity to it," said Steve Lind, deputy director of the Washington Traffic Safety Commission
Ref: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/306987_cells10.html
Texting ban in cars not right answer
The deeper one probes the possibilities for driver distraction from phones, or the burgeoning number of electronic features being offered on today's cars, the more murky the picture becomes and the harder it is to conceive hard and fast rules. Years ago, when audio systems started to be provided in vehicles, it was felt that music could distract a driver. Some might still argue that is true, especially with the recent introduction of iPod interfaces and programmable hard drives for in-car music storage.
Most navigation systems come with screens that can be used for many other purposes, from controlling the air conditioning to adjusting seat controls. Who's to say that time spent fiddling with a seat heater setting on a screen is any less hazardous than glancing at a text message?
Ref: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071003/AUTO02/710030319/1320/AUTO04
Are drivers on cell phones more dangerous than drunks? CNN Anderson
Cooper Blog 360
For starters, the sample was small and the drivers just barely drunk. Most people who cause drunk driving accidents are significantly above the legal limit for intoxication. Beyond that, recent, much larger studies have found that being distracted, trying to pick up things in the car, and being tired can all be more dangerous than cell phone use.
Ref: http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/2006/07/are-drivers-on-cell-phones-more.html
2006 Traffic Safety Annual Assessment - A Preview
A preview of results from the 2006 Annual Assessment of Motor Vehicle Traffic Crash
Fatalities and Injuries shows that the number of people killed in the United States in motor vehicle traffic crashes declined to the lowest level in five Years. This decline is the largest in terms of both number and percentages since 1992.
Ref PDF file: http://www.nhtsa.gov/portal/nhtsa_static_file_downloader.jsp?file=/staticfiles/DOT/NHTSA/NCSA/Content/RNotes/2007/810791.pdf
From: http://www.nhtsa.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/menuitem.6a6eaf83cf719ad24ec86e10dba046a0/
The Effect of Cellular Phone Use Upon Driver Attention
1991 National Public Services Research Institute
As might be expected, complex conversations involving problem solving led to the greater degree of performance decrement - about on par with tuning a radio.
Ref: http://www.aaafoundation.org/images/fig3.gif
The greatest deficit in ability to respond to highway-traffic situations is experienced by the older drivers. The frequency of non-response was from almost two times to over three times that evidenced by their younger counterparts.
Ref: http://www.aaafoundation.org/images/fig4.gif
Under the "hands off type of cellular phone simulated in the present study, conversations were really no different from those that might be carried on with another passenger.
Tuning a radio and complex conversations are more distracting than cell phone
use.
Ref: http://www.aaafoundation.org/resources/index.cfm?button=cellphone
Cell Phones and Driving - RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
A study released in April 2006 found that almost 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds of the event. The study, The 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study, conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), breaks new ground. (Earlier research found that driver inattention was responsible for 25 to 30 percent of crashes.) The new study found that the most common distraction is the use of cell phones, followed by drowsiness.
However, cell-phone use is far less likely to be the cause of a crash or near-miss than other distractions, according to the study. For example, while reaching for a moving object such as a falling cup increased the risk of a crash or near-crash by 9 times, talking or listening on a hand-held cell phone only increased the risk by 1.3 times. The study tracked the behavior of the 241 drivers of 100 vehicles for more than one year. The drivers were involved in 82 crashes, 761 near crashes and 8,295 critical incidents.
These findings confirm an August 2003 report from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety that
concluded that drivers are far less distracted by their cell phones than by other common
activities, such as reaching for items on the seat or glove compartment or talking to passengers. That study was based on the analysis of videotapes from cameras installed in the vehicles of 70 drivers in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Ref: http://www.iii.org/media/hottopics/insurance/cellphones/
Are you an adult with adult judgment, or are you a child who will wreak all kinds of havoc without big brother’s watchful eye upon you? It used to be that laws would help us defend ourselves against force and fraud. Now they seemed to be there to micromanage our lives
Ref: http://www.tucsonsammy.com/
Remember, Article II, Section 2 of the Arizona Constitution states the primary function of our State government is to
protect individual rights.
(not to restrict them) (Source,
Ken R.)
Ref:
http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/const/2/2.htm
Ref: http://www.azleg.gov/Constitution.asp?Article=2
Tom Danehy with the Tucson Weekly is for cell phone bans. He doesn't think tuning a radio is a
problem. He should read this AAA report. ...
"A study funded by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety about the effects of cell phone use on driver attention found that the distraction of using a hands-free cell phone is about the same as tuning a radio."
Read Tom's comments here: http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Opinion/Content?oid=oid%3A77012
Tom want to vote out every state legislator who refuses to consider cell phone
bans. Actually, most of us want to vote out legislators that try to pass
laws that needlessly restrict our lives.
Ann Denogean at the Tucson Citizen also thinks the AAA studies are wrong.
Read Ann's comments here: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/local/63946.php (Login
Required)
MSNBC: Live Vote: Do
you use your phone while driving? As of 5-2008 with 47043 votes, 56%
yes, 44% no.
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