Chapel Hill in North Carolina has passed a bill that calls for a total cell phone ban for all motorists, effective 1 June because of their pernicious role in distracted driving.
This makes Chapel Hill the first town in the United States to ban hands-free use of cell phones. Motorists also will be banned from using on-board wireless systems in vehicles – another first-of-its-kind law.
Cell phone use and its major role in the deadly distracted driving epidemic has been a controversial issue in recent years. Distracted driving gained further attention when the National Transportation Safety Board last November became the first government organization to recommend all 50 states and D.C. completely ban the use of portable electronic devices for all motorists. The National Safety Council called for a total ban in January 2009.
“In passing a total ban, Chapel Hill has taken a significant step toward making their roads safer,” said Janet Froetscher, president and CEO at NSC. “Research shows hand-free devices offer drivers no safety benefit. Passing total cell phone bans – that include handheld and hands-free use – makes our roads safer. We praise Chapel Hill for this action. It will save lives.”
The national Highway Traffic Safety Administration – in a specious states’ rights argument that goes back to before the Civil War and slavery – is forbidden by Congress from regulating drivers on a national basis, that power is reserved for the individual states, whose legislators show little interest in outlawing the demonstrably dangerous devices in automobiles.
More than 30 studies that show hands-free devices do not offer any safety benefit because they do not eliminate the distraction to the brain. Simply put, the brain is incapable of processing two demanding thinking tasks – talking on a cell phone and driving – simultaneously.
See:
- Chevy Gogo Link Transfers Smart Phone Apps to Dumb Radio
- Ford, Lincoln Change Touch Screens after Quality Ratings Dive
- NHTSA Proposes Distracted Driving Guidelines for Automakers
- Distracted Driving Prompts Technology Forced Compliance
- CMU Research Backs Ban for Cell Phones When Driving. NTSB Wants States to Prohibit All Non-Emergency Use of Cell Phones
- U.S. Auto Fatalities Drop to Lowest level in More than 60 Years
- Teaching Teens of Deadly Distracted Driving with Video Game?
- DOT Distracted Driving Rule Bans Hand-Held Phone use by Commercial Drivers, but Allows Hands-Free Cell Phones
- GM Claims Self Driving Vehicles Ready by 2020
- NTSB Wants Cell Phone Ban for Commercial Drivers
- DOT’s LaHood Praises BMW as it Enables Distracted Driving?
- Electronic Devices Gain in Importance for New Vehicle Buyers
- Microsoft and Toyota Partner on Next-Generation Telematics
