Washington is about to join New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California and the District of Columbia in banning the use of hand-held cellphones while driving, but enforcement and compliance challenges raise questions about the effectiveness of existing laws and the growing number of distracted driver bills in play in state legislatures across the country.
“The challenge is so many people do it [disobey the law] we can’t get them all,” said Jim Strillacci, police chief of West Hartford, Conn., and state legislative representative for the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association. “It’s a target-rich environment.”
The challenge is equally daunting for the cellular industry, which is trying to reposition itself by continuing to promote driver safety education while at the same time holding back from outright opposition to the growing drumbeat of bills to restrict use of hand-held phones by drivers and related legislation. Hard facts and statistics are elusive. Only about 16 states have published data on the role of cellphones in auto accidents, according the National Conference of State Legislatures. NCSL said about 27 states and the District of Columbia direct police officers to investigate possible cellphone involvement at crash scenes.
The issue is not about to go away anytime soon for state legislatures and the cellular industry, with the common sight of a driver with one hand on the wheel and other holding a phone to their head having entered into the second half of America’s love-hate affair with cellphones.
Connecticut’s hand-held ban went into effect in October 2005. Like other state laws the Connecticut statute permits drivers to have cellular conversations while behind the wheel if hands-free devices are used, and the statute make exceptions for emergencies. But studies by the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration, academics and others have concluded hands-free gadgets to do not improve driver concentration.
“It may require education and a campaign, maybe along the lines of what we did with drunk driving,” said Strillacci.
Thousands of violations
Strillacci said the 9,000-plus violations of Connecticut’s hand-held ban in 2006 is a drop in the bucket that doesn’t come close to reflecting the actual level of non-compliance. It’s easy to understand why hand-held bans are rendered largely meaningless.
After getting constituent complaints about drivers routinely ignoring Connecticut’s handheld prohibition, state Rep. Thomas Drew (D) figured doubling the fine to $200 might get better results. So he introduced legislation to amend the 2005 law. But interesting enough, he explained, local and state police opposed the idea. In fact, the police lobby countered that reducing the existing fine might be more effective. Drew said Connecticut police, painfully aware that most hand-held ban violators are not caught, believe it unfair to slap those unlucky violators who are caught with $100 tickets.
New York was the first state to enact a law penalizing driver use of hand-held mobile phones, with enforcement taking effect in December 2001. A study published in 2004 found compliance with New York’s hand-held ban initially increased, but subsequently dropped to the pre-law level. Researchers speculated the change in behavior may have been due the heavy publicity leading up to and following enactment of the hand-held driver law.
Text messaging also a target
In addition to putting a hand-held ban on the books, Washington also will ban drivers from text messaging on the road. Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) was expected Friday to sign bills into law banning driver operation of hand-held phones and text-messaging while behind the wheel.
Matt Sundeen, a transportation analyst at the NCSL, said there has been driver distraction legislation-most involving cell phones-in all 50 states during the past five years. In 2006 alone, he said, 43 states entertained distracted driver legislation. Many measures seek to outlaw driver use of hand-held phones, with other bills designed to keep cellphones out of the hands of teens and school bus drivers.
