Phones & Driving

Today, the majority of humans own and operate cell phones on a daily basis. A lot of things in the 21st century have to do with using a cell phone, including driving. Although some people may agree with using a cell phone while driving, others may disagree. They all have their own reasons why, but I'm going to explain why drivers should be able to use cell phones in any capacity while operating a vehicle.

There are lots of benefits when using a cell phone while operating a vehicle, but the most important benefit of cell phones during driving is the security factor. During emergency situations cell phones can provide help and the driver can make emergency calls, even reporting any dangerous scenario such as roadside accidents. Through cell phones a driver can locate the desired route or find his/her way back home if they are lost. Using FMs on cell phones can also provide information about weather and traffic.

Regulating cell phone use is not a federal responsibility, even on federal roads. This is not an issue that Washington has the authority to address. There's no compelling reason for it. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that 3,092 traffic deaths last year involved distracted drivers. But using a cell phone is only one of many driver distractions. Eating and drinking while behind the wheel are two others, and they are far more dangerous than yapping on the phone. In fact, a 2009 NHTSA study found that 80% of all car wrecks are caused by drivers eating or drinking, not cellphone use, with coffee-guzzling the top offender.

According to federal data, traffic deaths have fallen from 2.1 per 100 million vehicle miles in 1990, when virtually no one had a cellphone, to 1.1 in 2009, when almost everyone does. We have no problem with bans on texting while in the driver's seat. Texting forces a driver's eyes off the road and is clearly risky. But it must be done at the state level. That's how federalism works. States that don't see texting as a threat on their roads are free to keep it legal.

But banning cellphone use? Why aren't the Potomac nannies going after Starbucks sippers and Big Mac munchers instead? Why not prosecute women who put on their makeup while on the road and men who shave? Shouldn't combing while driving be outlawed as well? This is all coming, of course, from the same Washington that's commanding automakers to build more fuel-efficient cars, which is likely to result, as it has in the past, in more carnage as the cars have to be smaller and lighter to meet the standards. If federal meddlers really wanted to keep traffic fatalities down, they'd reverse their fuel-efficiency demands.

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