Some researchers equate talking on a cell phone while driving with drinking and driving. Think about it. If someone holds a cell phone while talking, precious time is spent fumbling for the phone when it rings in traffic. Then the driver looks at the screen to identify the number. Then the driver touches the “answer call” button. Then the driver puts the phone to his ear to say, “Hello.” By then, 10 second of shifty-eyed attention between the road and the ringing phone may be all it takes to drive off the road or collide with another motorist. At 65 miles an hour on an interstate, the results could be fatal.
A national 2003 study by Harvard University concluded a ban on cell-phone use while driving likely would prevent 330,000 auto-accident injuries and 2,600 fatalities a year, reported thefacts.com.
Texas State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio introduced repeated legislation in the Legislature, trying to force drivers to use hands-free devices. His bills have failed. “I would hope some minds will change,” he said.
Fellow Texas legislator Rep. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, said, “I have seen so many near-miss accidents in my life. Drivers who use handsets while driving are distracted and physically impaired.”
Menendez has introduced House legislation which passed -- one bill making it illegal for teen drivers to use a cell phone while driving six months after receiving their license. He now is introducing a bill that would apply the ban to all drivers 18 and younger.
But University of Utah cognitive psychologist David Strayer said a headset is no safer than a hand-held device, when it comes to safety behind the wheel. He measured brain waves of drivers using handsets and hands-free sets and found the distraction level the same. “Once you start talking, you stop moving your eyes to scan the environment,” Strayer said. “We found brain activity is cut in half while talking n a cell phone.”
Strayer went on to say, “The level of distraction is different if a driver is listening to the radio or talking to a passenger because the type of engagement isn’t the same. A radio doesn’t require conversational engagement and a passenger shares the visual environment with the driver, meaning that person helps watch for traffic hazards,” he said.
Bur Sen. Wentworth disagreed with Strayer on the headset safety issue. “Drivers are more distracted using hand-held devices because they don’t have two hands on the steering wheel, which is dangerous,” he said. “They have no idea. They are blissfully unaware they are about to cause an accident.”
Then there’s text messaging among the younger generation.
Strayer said those who text behind the wheel are six times more likely to be in an accident.
A recent survey by the Texas Transportation Institute of 4,400 teen drivers revealed more than a 33% used a cell phone while driving and a 25% sent or received text messages.
Said Menendez, “If we get every 18-year-old to think about it, maybe we’ll have a lot more people who will choose not to use their cell while driving. The law will help us get to that goal.”
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