Bill on drivers using cell phones likely to die with session
The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon)
March 7, 2006 Tuesday
Sunrise Edition
KAYLA WEBLEY, The Oregonian
OLYMPIA –A bill to force Washington motorists to “hang up and drive” has advanced further in the Legislature than before, but it’s likely to wind up on hold for another year.
Sen. Tracey Eide said she introduced the bill after reading a New England Journal of Medicine report that equated talking on a cell phone in the car to drunken driving.
It would require people to use headsets or other hands-free alternatives when talking on their cell phones while driving. Violations would become a “secondary infraction,” meaning police couldn’t pull over drivers for the offense, but could cite people and issue $101 fines if they were stopped for other reasons.
Exceptions include people using a handheld cell phone to make emergency calls or people driving emergency vehicles.
The bill passed the Senate 28-18 and is now in the House Rules Committee waiting to be scheduled for a floor vote. It made it out of the House Transportation Committee, where an identical bill stalled last year.
But Eide, D-Federal Way, said it doesn’t appear to have enough House support to pass during the short session that ends Thursday. She plans to reintroduce the bill next year if it dies.
Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Washington, D.C., have similar laws on the books.
An estimated 10 percent of drivers use cell phones during daylight hours, whether they’re handheld or hands-free, according to study last December by the National Highway Safety Administration and the National Center for Statistics and Analysis.
Of those drivers, about 6 percent use handheld phones, up from 4 percent in 2004. That translates to 974,000 drivers at any given daylight hour holding a cell phone and driving, the study said. It also noted that the use of headsets is increasing –up last year to 0.7 percent from 0.4 percent in 2004.
The New England Journal of Medicine report found that the risk of a collision increased four times for people using a cell phone. “This relative risk is similar to the hazard associated with driving with a blood-alcohol level at the legal limit,” it said.
At the same time, the 1997 report said researchers didn’t find a difference in safety when people drove with handheld cell phones vs. hands-free phones. They’re distracted either way, the report said.
The cell phone industry is split on the issue. While Verizon, Cingular and Qwest were neutral on Eide’s measure, Sprint/Nextel testified against the bill as too narrow.
“There are many distractions that can detour a driver from focusing solely on driving: Changing a CD, putting on makeup, eating and disciplining children can be just as distracting,” said Mary Beth Lowell, a Sprint/Nextel spokeswoman of Redmond.
Instead, Lowell said, drivers need to learn reasonable driving behavior. The company has a program called “Focus on Driving” designed to teach high school students about destructive driving and catch them before they develop bad habits, she said.
Other cell phone companies recommend the use of headsets to their customers and see the legislation as a balance between cell phone use and safety.
“We want people to be able to stay productive in their cars. The most reasonable approach is to allow people to have a conversation on a cell phone, but at the same time keep two hands on the wheel,” said Dan Youmans of Redmond, a spokesman for Cingular Wireless.
The Washington State Patrol supports the measure. In January, troopers started tracking accidents linked to cell phone use in cars, but are waiting for a longer study to compile results.
“I know I personally have observed and experienced while driving that it is much harder to put on your turn signal and you don’t necessarily do clearing checks when changing lanes if you have your ear to the phone,” said patrol spokesman Jeff DeVere. “Even just talking can be distracting.”
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