Doubts about a cellphone ban

The Gazette Editorial Board

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The dangers of using a cellphone while driving are well-documented.

Incidents of texting or chatting drivers swerving, driving recklessly - even causing sometimes fatal accidents - are all too common.

So common, in fact, that federal traffic safety investigators have called for a nationwide ban on cellphone use while driving.

But while we share their concern about the dangers of distracted driving, we disagree that banning cellphones behind the wheel is an effective solution to the problem.

Members of the National Transportation Safety Board have urged all states to ban cellphone use - even hands-free use - while driving, with exceptions only for emergencies.

That would represent a stricter standard than states impose. Today, 35 states (including Iowa) and the District of Columbia ban texting while driving, 30 states ban cellphone use for new drivers. Only 10 ban hand-held cellphone use for all drivers.

NTSB officials say they realize the ban would require dramatic shifts in driver behavior, but argue that it's worth it to combat the significant safety dangers such behaviors pose.

“We're not here to win a popularity contest,” one NTSB official recently told the Associated Press. “No email, no text, no update, no call is worth a human life.”

Or extra value meal, or iPod playlist or children's DVD - one of the main reasons we oppose a blanket cellphone ban.

Because while we're as opposed to drivers monkeying around with a phone as those federal safety officials, the serious problem of distracted driving cannot be blamed on a particular electronic device.

Banning cellphone use while driving attacks just one symptom of the larger issue: That, increasingly, we're not driving responsibly, with our hands on the wheel and our eyes on the road.

We think it makes more sense to crack down on the reckless and erratic driving that results from that inattention - no matter whether it's caused by reading a text or fishing around for stray french fries in the passenger seat.

We've also got serious doubts that state legislatures would have the political will to pass the types of restrictions the NTSB is recommending.

Drivers absolutely should refrain from texting while behind the wheel - it's not just the law, it's the responsible thing to do.

But it's also not the only behavior that needs to change in order to combat the deadly trend of driver distraction.

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