WASHINGTON—A traffic systems advocate on Sept. 10 said the current debate over whether using wireless phones is a distraction is a continuation of a debate that has gone on for many years regarding keeping drivers focused on the road.
“I think the cell-phone debate today highlights an issue we have been living with for some time. That is the issue of keeping drivers focused on the job and not having them distracted by devices in the car. While the cell-phone debate is the latest to provide distraction, I think really changing the station on the radio or being distracted by a baby in the backseat or changing the CD can be equally distracting,” said Lawrence Yermack, chairman of the board of directors of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America.
Yermack was responding to a question from Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) at a hearing of the Senate transportation infrastructure subcommittee on the Intelligent Transportation System.
The Intelligent Transportation System is a program designed to use advanced communications—often wireless—to help with diagnosing and solving congestion on America’s highways. There is also a program being developed for America’s railroads.
The ITS oversight hearing occurred on the same day that the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety called on employers to conduct jobsite education campaigns to help employees understand the risks of being distracted while driving. A survey released by NETS as part of its annual Drive Safely Work Week showed that people involved in distracted behavior—including the 51 percent who admitted to talking on a wireless phone—do not think it is as dangerous to the public at large. NETS is a public-private partnership created in 1989 to educate employers and their employees about traffic safety both on and off the job.
At the ITS hearing, Warner said he believes the cell-phone distraction issue is a first cousin to a problem first brought up by Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), subcommittee chairman. Reid said he saw no use for in-car navigation devices but Yermack convinced him of their usefulness.
While wireless phones may be considered a distraction, that did not stop one advocate from urging the subcommittee to help forward the development of rural wireless systems. There is a great need for a better rural cellular system, Steve Albert, director of the Western Transportation Institute based in Bozeman, Mont., told the subcommittee.
Albert tried to show that while ITS focuses on metropolitan areas, there are many areas where wireless systems can be used to improve transportation in rural areas.
The subcommittee also explored the development of the 511 service, which the Federal Communications Commission has said must be implemented before 2005. 511 is a specially set-aside phone number for transportation information.
An official with the Department of Transportation said the Transportation Department is working with the wireless industry and the various states to develop the system. Coordination with the wireless industry is necessary to ensure that calls are routed appropriately, said Christine Johnson, director of DOT’s Office of the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program.
