Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Oops. Darn it. That light turned red awfully fast. I really should stop writing my column while driving.
I exaggerate, slightly. I have a rusting yellow scar the width of the door on the driver’s side of my Honda from one instance of pecking on my Blackberry. Had the object I encountered been moving rather than stationary, the entire driver’s side -- and perhaps the driver -- would be gone.
There oughta be a law, and there is -- or are -- a welter of varying rules from state to state. Text messaging is banned for all drivers in 17 states and the District of Columbia. Bans on driving while talking on a hand-held cellular phone are in place in seven states (California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Utah, and Washington) and D.C.
It’s almost a bandwagon, so the White House is jumping on with a “Distracted Driving Summit,” which, due to popular demand, was expanded on Monday from one day to two -- Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. (As for the government’s suggestion that you “Get updates on the Distracted Driving Summit on Twitter at http://twitter.com/distractdriving” -- well, let’s just say it would be ironic if you had an accident while doing so.)
Why not? It’s timely, as the use of electronic devices has grown faster than hybrids. Like Bill Clinton’s support for midnight basketball programs and school uniforms, this costs little, is socially useful and is so doable we hardly need a White House conference.
Ayes Have It
All in favor of a ban on talking while hurtling down the road in a ton of steel even at 25 miles per hour, say aye. The ayes have it. Now let’s work on penalties. The $100 ticket I got in Washington for failure to use an earpiece got my attention. I now have an earpiece permanently in place in much the way my mother attached mittens to my coat when I went off to kindergarten.
There’s no vocal lobby in favor of distracted driving. Have all the summits and town halls you want. I’ll bet you an electric car that there won’t be any goons carrying swastikas or attendees hanging members of Congress in effigy before shutting down the meeting. Those conservatives who made a laughingstock out of the government on our backs about seatbelts, smoking and health-care reform are largely silent on this.
The research is sobering. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration -- which suppressed studies until last month, when advocacy groups forced it to go public -- learned in one report that “drivers found it easier to drive drunk than to drive while using a phone, even when it was hands-free.” Also, those chatting drivers are four times more likely to be in a crash as people with blood-alcohol levels of 0.08 percent -- legally drunk, in other words.
Ears Too
Those who think an earpiece solves the problem, listen up (while keeping your eyes on the road): holding the phone isn’t the issue. Using it is. There are negligible differences in accident risk between the two.
In July, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute released a study that found when drivers of heavy trucks texted, their collision risk was 23 times greater.
Before the White House got into the issue, Senator Charles Schumer of New York and others introduced legislation to bring consistency to state laws by banning all texting or e-mailing while operating a moving vehicle. Enforcement would be akin to that used to get states to raise the minimum drinking age to 21: a portion of annual federal highway funding would be withheld from states that refuse.
Even the industry is cooperating, perhaps fearing there will be no need for a friends-and-family plan if Americans, banned from use of cells while driving, chat entirely on rollover minutes.
Close Calls
Did I learn my lesson? Yes and no. Everyone I know will admit to a close call, veering back onto the road just before careening into a ditch while dialing or texting or just talking.
But the desire to be in touch constantly -- the desire that compels people sitting at dinner to look down at whatever concealed devices they are carrying in hopes, perhaps, of that one message that matters -- is powerful. And near misses have the opposite effect of deterrence. (I made it that time, I’ll make it again.)
Cheers to the White House and Senate for pushing new laws. Stiff penalties will help, even if enforcement is spotty.
What will ultimately make us safe is social pressure, the sense that it is wrong to put others, if not yourself, at risk for something as unnecessary as checking e-mail in the car.
Sensible laws need little enforcement. Seatbelt laws? It’s second nature to hook up now. Looks of disgust make smoking police unnecessary. Before long, it will be as unacceptable to talk while driving as it would be to light up on an airplane or have children unrestrained in the back seat.
After reading all the research for this column, I’m going cold turkey. Don’t try to reach me while driving. I’m shut down.
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