The NTSB has issued its most far reaching recommendation with respect to reducing accidents caused by distracted driving. The recommendation would ban hands-free as well as hand-held devices, but devices installed in the vehicle by the manufacturer would be allowed, the NTSB said.
This recommendation follows earlier recommendations prohibiting all cell phone use while driving for commercial truckers and school bus drivers. In doing so the NTSB noted that based on recent studies indicating that on any given day, during daylight hours, there are approximately 13.5 million drivers using hand held cell phones.
This recommendation makes sense if one subscribes to the belief that even while talking hands free , one can be distracted based on the nature of the conversation and the focus diverted from driving to the conversation. These cognitive distractions are another part of the distracted driving issue. Critics quickly have gathered stating that using hands free devices to make phone calls is just as safe as having a conversation with a passenger in the car and that this proposal goes too far.
From my perspective distracted driving involves many behaviors beyond cell phone use, hands free or otherwise. We will all be safer if we take our responsibility to focus solely on driving while behind the wheel, recognizing that our driving, and potential inattention to a myriad of other activities while driving , can have life -altering consequences. Multi-tasking while driving is just not worth the risk.
Washington (CNN) — A federal safety board called Tuesday for a nationwide ban on the use of cell phones and text messaging devices while driving.
The recommendation is the most far-reaching yet by the National Transportation Safety Board, which in the past 10 years has increasingly sought to limit the use of portable electronic devices—recommending bans for novice drivers, school bus drivers and commercial truckers. Tuesday’s recommendation, if adopted by states, would outlaw non-emergency phone calls and texting by operators of every vehicle on the road.
It would apply to hands-free as well as hand-held devices, but devices installed in the vehicle by the manufacturer would be allowed, the NTSB said. The recommendation would not affect passengers’ rights to use such devices.
“This (distracted driving) is becoming the new DUI. It’s becoming epidemic,” said NTSB member Robert Sumwalt.
NTSB members say the action is necessary to combat a growing threat posed by distracted drivers. While distracted driving has been a problem “since the Model T,” in the words of NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman, authorities say it has become ubiquitous with the explosion in the number of portable smart phones. At any given daylight moment, some 13.5 million drivers are on hand-held phones, according to a study released last week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Some 3,092 roadway fatalities last year involved distracted drivers, although the actual number may be far higher, NHTSA said.
- Study: Half of young people text, drive
- Study: Distracted drivers in denial
