WASHINGTON-If you are a congressman driving one Friday evening to Connecticut while holding a mobile phone in your hand, and your wife exclaims suddenly that you are driving erratically, what do you do?
When this happened to Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.), he introduced legislation that would withhold highway funds from states that do not enact legislation restricting the use of wireless phones while driving.
A similar bill by Sen. Jon Corzine (D.-N.J.) was also introduced last week in the Senate. The bills are known as the “The CRASH-Call Responsibly and Stay Healthy-Act.”
Ackerman told reporters the story of the fateful drive to Connecticut as he called on states to enact legislation that would require the use of a hands-free device while driving. Corzine’s legislation is more open-ended and could allow states to ban the use of wireless phones while driving altogether.
States would have two years following passage of the Ackerman/Corzine legislation to enact bills on their own or risk losing 5 percent of their highway transportation money the first year and 15 percent the second year. The amount risked would increase by 10 percent each year until legislation was enacted by the individual states.
Ackerman called the legislation common sense; the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association said common sense cannot be legislated.
“CTIA and the wireless industry believe that public awareness on the issue of distracted driving is of paramount importance. Unfortunately, both legislative proposals put forth today fail to address the issues of education, data collection, and the strict enforcement of existing laws that prohibit unsafe driving due to driver inattention or distraction,” said the trade association.
Ironically, the Ackerman/Corzine legislation was introduced as CTIA was celebrating Wireless Safety Week, to show the value of wireless phones.
CTIA said there were nearly 140,000 emergency calls placed everyday during 2000. This equates to 96 calls per minute. “Wireless phones are the greatest safety tools since the development of 911,” said CTIA President Tom Wheeler.
The chief executive officer of Audivox Communication Corp. agreed. “We do not want to be painted as anti-safety. … Phones outweigh the risk. Having a phone in the car is now not a luxury, but a necessity. Numerous lives have been saved by having a cell phone in the car,” said Philip Christopher.
Verizon Wireless is offering a Hands Free Combo Kit to online customers as part of its celebration of Wireless Safety Week. Customers who purchase any one of seven qualifying digital handsets and a service plan starting at $30 from the Verizon Wireless Online Store will receive the hands-free kit retailing at $50 at no additional charge. The hands-free kit includes a Jabra headset, vehicle power adapter and a belt clip.
“We strongly encourage our customers who talk and drive to do so using a hands-free device, which allows them to keep both hands on the wheel and their focus on the task at hand-driving,” said John Stratton, Verizon Wireless vice president and chief marketing officer.
Cingular Wireless Inc. launched its Be Sensible Campaign. A component of the campaign is safe driving. “Drive Sensibly Weeks” have been identified during peak travel times year-round. Discounts on car accessories such as headsets and hands-free speaker phone kits will be offered during these weeks to remind people that driving should always be their first priority, said Cingular.
But these industry efforts may not be heading in the right direction. At a recent hearing of the House Transportation highways subcommittee, a representative of AAA warned that hands-free is not risk free.
“The myth is that hands-free is risk free. We don’t have any quick fixes for this problem. As a consequence we will be telling them to be doing the very wrong thing,” said Mark Lee Edwards, AAA managing director of traffic safety for AAA.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration refused to endorse a legislative solution to the problem of distracted driving, saying more study was needed. A 1996 study suggested that about 20 percent to 30 percent of all car crashes were caused by driver distraction. Today 20 states collect general data on crashes caused by distractions, but only a few of those states break down the data to specific distractions. For this reason, it is difficult to tell how much more dangerous talking on the phone is compared to eating a hamburger or changing a CD.
The bills have no original co-sponsors and little prospect of moving this year. The House Transportation Committee is reviewing the information from witnesses at the hearing earlier this month. No further hearings are currently planned, said spokesman Steve Hansen.
A spokesman for Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), the new chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said it is too early-less than 24 hours after the political earthquake created by the defection of Sen. James M. Jeffords (now I-Vt.) from the Republican Party-to have formed a telecom agenda, including whether to move the Corzine legislation.
The same day Ackerman and Corzine were introducing their legislation, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) were holding a press conference to release a report from the General Accounting Office on current government efforts to study the health effects from radio-frequency emissions. While there are lawsuits that would require that hands-free devices be sold to subscribers to protect them from RF emissions, Ackerman said this was a different issue than using hand-free devices while driving.
