People do stupid things when they drive. And they seem to do even more stupid things when they have a cell phone. That's not just an opinion—it's a research finding from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Now, citing data on the impact of cell phone calls on driving (even hands free phones), the National Traffic Safety Board is pushing to ban all use of all electronic devices other than GPS systems while driving, except for emergencies—a move that many drivers (and hands-free device makers) are sure to protest.
According to the NHTSA's latest numbers, 3,092 people died in 2010 as the result of distracted driving, including talking on a cell phone or texting. While that number is down from 2009, when NHTSA reported 5,484 "distraction-related" traffic deaths, the numbers aren't comparable because of a change in how the agency categorizes accidents. And despite laws in many states banning handheld cellphone use and texting while driving, a driver survey by NHTSA found that nearly half of drivers are still making calls from their phones, and 10 percent are still reading text messages.
Citing the NHTSA's data and the results of a study of an August 2010 accident in Missouri involving two school buses, a pickup, and a passenger vehicle, the NTSB's five members issued a recommendation that all states "ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed to support the driving task) for all drivers." The recommendation includes hands-free and Bluetooth devices. "It is both the visual and cognitive distractions and the manual distractions, that we're concerned about," said NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman, in a press conference following the decision.
Currently, nine states (plus the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands) ban the use of handheld cell phones while driving, and 35 completely ban texting while driving. And 30 states and DC ban the use of cell phones by rookie drivers. But there are no statewide laws anywhere in the US banning all cell phone use while driving, and it's unlikely many states will follow the NTSB's recommendation.
But given that GPS is now an integral part of most smartphones, and that services like OnStar integrate voice commands to phones via Bluetooth, it's not clear how effective or enforceable a total ban would be—or whether it would change the behavior of drivers in a significant way. Bans on handheld phone use haven't significantly reduced the likelihood of drivers to take incoming calls while they're driving regardless of the type of phone they have.
Some studies, including those by the NHTSA, have found that GPS systems and electronic touch-screen systems for car entertainment systems can be as much of a distraction to drivers as cell phones—last year a Megabus in Syracuse crashed when the driver failed to realize he was driving his double-decker bus under a low bridge while following his GPS, killing four passengers and injuring 24 others. And even a ban of all electronic devices doesn't cover the leading source of driver distraction: conversation with passengers, which the NHTSA found caused 7,000 crashes in 2009.
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