Put down those cell phones while driving

When I checked last July, the top crash-causing distraction for drivers was craning one’s neck to look at a roadside incident. Now, studies show, cell phone use while driving is becoming an all-too-common contributor to mishaps. Previously, gabbing on the phone while driving was only about mid-pack on the list of 15 common driver distractions — which included things like eating, or adjusting the radio — and rubbernecking was the No. 1 distraction. Now that U.S. cell phone users have grown in number from 4.3 million in 1990 to 190 million in 2005, cell phone use is rapidly rising to the top of the driver diversion list.

I am convinced that no one can properly concentrate on driving while conversing on the phone. I’ve even tried it myself many times, but I noticed a correlation between the seriousness of my conversation and the capacity to pay attention to driving. As the gravity of my subject matter increased, the quality of my driving decreased. Last week, I watched three examples of impairment from driving while communicating.

At the bottom of the hill on Cowley Street, I came upon a vehicle that had been sitting still for an inordinate amount of time, only to see that the driver was dialing a phone while oblivious to surrounding vehicles, including mine. When she finished dialing and put the phone to her ear, she spotted me in her rearview mirror, made a jackrabbit start (still looking in mirror), and a turn (no signal) to the right — erratic driving at best.

Driving along Sprague Avenue, I followed a Suburban at 19-22 mph during the lunch hour, in the right lane for several blocks. You guessed it, the driver had that familiar lean on his right elbow, phone pressed to right ear. The left lane was filled at the time, so I couldn’t pass — besides, it was sort of fun to see how long this guy would maintain his silly speed. Well, it was a total of about five blocks, when, the instant the cell phone flipped shut — zoom — he gassed it, and drove a now attentive, cell-phone-free 32 mph.

I also exercised patience during an apparently important call, while at the base of Hatch Road where it enters U.S. 195. With no cars present on the highway to impede entrance, this driver had the same pose as the Suburban driver (leaning right with phone to ear; I wonder if left-handers lean left?), and was sitting still. After about 30 seconds, my light horn honk got her moving, but at a very slow speed for highway entrance, although I do realize, she was busy talking.

Recent studies show what I’ve suspected: drivers on cell phones become so absorbed in conversation that their ability to concentrate on precision driving is significantly impaired.

In July 2005, a Perth, Australia study concluded that motorists who use cell phones are four times more likely to get in crashes causing injury than cell-free drivers.

A University of Utah study, published in the Winter issue of Human Factors, found that drivers who talked on hands-free cell phones were 18 percent slower in braking, and took 17 percent longer to regain the speed that they lost when they braked. The study also found that drivers were less likely to recall seeing pedestrians, billboards, and other roadway items during cell phone conversations. This study further suggests that hands-free phones may give a false sense of ease to drivers.

So, it seems that in addition to the list of our old favorites like rubbernecking, eating, and looking at girls or guys, the newer distraction of talking on the cell phone is taking a strong position — probably No. 1 soon (if not already).

A total of about 40 countries from Australia to France, Japan, Sweden, Russia, and Zimbabwe have instituted outright bans on using cell phones while driving with fines ranging from $100 to $1,000. As typical, legislation has bogged down in the United States.

While many states have partial bans, or are debating bans in their respective legislatures, only New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C., have full bans on mixing driving with cell phone use.

There will, undoubtedly, be more studies, more discussions, and more bans coming.

Businesses are increasingly prohibiting workers from using cell phones while driving to conduct business. In 2004, the California Association of Employers recommended that employers develop a cell-phone policy that requires employees to pull off the road before conducting business by phone.

I’m certain that Beers Skanska, Inc., of Georgia, has such a new policy in effect now. In December 2004, they paid $5 million to settle a case in which the plaintiff was seriously injured in an accident caused by an employee while using a cell phone. It was the first high-profile case where the employer was held liable in a phone-related accident.

I suggest that you pull well off the roadway to have your cell-phone conversations, and I will practice what I preach as well. Proper driving takes all of our attention — to dilute it with talking on the phone doesn’t make good sense. Our previous favorite driving distractions are enough — we don’t need a new one, especially one that outdoes all of the others.