Stand on any busy street corner and watch the drivers go by. Count how many are talking on their cell phones.
It’s illegal in Washington to use a hand-held phone while driving, but you’d hardly know it by the number of people who are obviously ignoring the law.
Some research indicates that about 12 percent of drivers are on the phone at any given time. The law-abiding souls use hands-free devices. Far too many don’t. The worst are those who one-arm their steering wheels around corners or at 65 mph on the freeway while merrily talking to the hand.
A New England Journal of Medicine found that drivers quadruple their chances of being in an accident when they’re on their cell phones. And a University of Utah study found that “people are as impaired when they drive and talk on a cell phone as they are when they drive intoxicated at the legal blood-alcohol limit (0.08 percent). Young, less experienced drivers are the most vulnerable.
If it’s illegal to use a hand-held phone while driving, why do so many Washingtonians still do it? Probably because it’s only a secondary offense in this state. Police have to pull drivers over for something else – speeding, for instance – before they can issue a ticket for illegal cell phone use.
That’s not the case in Oregon, where it just became a primary offense that can result in a $142 ticket. Police there say most drivers seem to be observing the law. It’s also a primary offense in California, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey and on U.S. military installations.
The secondary offense rule obviously isn’t having much effect on Washington drivers. The Legislature should get behind efforts by state Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, to make hand-held cell phone use while driving a primary offense. There would admittedly be a degree of inconsistency here, because some studies suggest hands-free devices are as much of a distraction. But those systems have an obvious advantage: They allow drivers to keep both hands on the wheel. Besides, a law against hands-free devices would be nearly impossible to enforce, while police can easily spot hand-held phones.
Not every potential road hazard can or ought to be addressed with a new law – drinking coffee while driving, for example. But the research strongly suggests that compulsive phone-chatterers pose an unusual threat to other people on the road.
Given the evidence that at least some of them are as dangerous as half-drunk drivers, lawmakers ought to take the next step and let cops ticket them on sight.
Other states’ laws
For a roundup of the states’ cell phone/text messaging driving laws go to: tinyurl.com/39hfe7.
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