Driven to Distraction   

By Kathy Sena

Recently, my husband, nine-year-old son and I had a too-close call with a cell-phone-wielding woman maneuvering an SUV through our always-crowded downtown area. She hung a fast right on red without stopping, slowing or, apparently, even wondering if any pedestrians might be taking advantage of the flashing “walk” signal. Fortunately, my husband saw her and pulled both Matthew and me from her path. She never even noticed us scrambling out of her way.

Some politicians oppose no-cell-phones-while-driving legislation and call it “nanny government.” But perhaps we could use a little of Mary Poppins’ strong medicine right now, as many cell-phone companies publicly tout their “safety-first” campaigns while lobbying vigorously against cell-phone safety laws that might indirectly reduce users’ monthly bills.

Clearly, a little nannying is in order. Some parents at my son’s elementary school could use a stern lecture from Ms. Poppins, I’m afraid. Our school newsletter has had to remind distracted parents - more than once - to nix the cell-phone use in the school drop-off zone. Parents double park or weave in and out of parked cars, chatting away, while their kids jump out and dart between those cars. It’s a recipe for disaster.

The National Transportation Safety Board recently recommended that all states immediately pass laws prohibiting young, inexperienced drivers from using cell phones while driving. (So far, only New Jersey prohibits drivers with learners’ permits or intermediate licenses from using cell phones while on the road, according to the NTSB.) The recommendation came after the NTSB reviewed a 2002 accident involving an inexperienced 20-year-old Maryland driver who flipped her SUV and then landed on a minivan. Five people died. A federal investigation showed that she was talking on her cell phone when a wind gust hit her SUV. Investigators say her response time was slowed because she was on the phone.

While anecdotal evidence abounds, NTSB chairwoman Ellen Engleman explains in a phone interview that she would like to see better tracking of all forms of driver distraction. “There isn’t good data on this,” she says, noting that only 16 states currently list driver distraction as a code on accident-reporting forms. “Cell phones are just one of almost a dozen items” that cause distraction, says Engleman, citing eating, smoking, pets, children, radio/CD players, in-car navigation systems, applying makeup, reading, conversation with passengers and drinking hot coffee as potential distractions.

Certainly Engleman has a point that more data is needed before the NTSB can make further recommendations. But we all know what we see going on in the cars next to us on the road every day. And let’s do the math: If the average cell-phone-in-the-car user spent as much time on other distractions as he spends talking on the phone, he’d weigh 400 pounds, have advanced lung cancer and be up to his ears in dog hair.

“Your car is not your living room,” says Engleman. “Driving is a very complex activity,” she adds, noting that handling a vehicle weighing up to 3,500 pounds, at high speeds, in differing weather conditions - all while surrounded by other drivers doing the same thing - isn’t a task to be taken lightly.

Many drivers feel pretty invincible in their living room on wheels, it seems. But apparently we could use a bit less cockiness on the road. “People around here can’t drive and chew gum at the same time,” is how one local police officer summed up the problem when I asked (as a ticked-off mom who had just missed getting run down, not a journalist) about cell-phone use and accidents.

So let’s follow Engleman’s suggestion and update those accident-report forms nationwide so we can get the stats we need to appropriately change the laws. Let’s follow the NTSB’s immediate suggestion and restrict young drivers from using cell phones while driving. Then, when we’ve gathered the data we need to back up what we already know in our gut to be true, let’s pass legislation in every state to get people to stop dialing and driving.

Until then, when you’re in the school drop-off zone - or just driving to the grocery store - please hang up and pay attention to the important task at hand. Ask other parents to do the same. The life you save may be your child’s.

Kathy Sena is an award-winning freelance journalist who frequently covers health-and-safety issues.