Cell phones pose driving threat

Starting Jan. 1, residents in New York's Suffolk County who are caught using a cell phone while driving will face a $150 fine. Towns in Ohio and Pennsylvania already ban cell phone use while driving, and similar measures have been enacted in Israel, Portugal, Italy, Brazil, Chile, Switzerland and Great Britain.\nIn these areas, people are beginning to realize the dangers of talking and driving, a habit as perilous as drinking and driving for both the phone user and everyone else on the road. The rest of the world needs to reach the same conclusion -- that this practice is dangerous and ought to be regulated.\nIn 1997, a study conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine examined the link between cell phone calls and car crashes. It found using the phone while driving quadruples the risk of a collision.\nThe National Highway Transportation Safety Administration in 1998 published "An investigation of the safety implications of wireless communications in vehicles." The report concluded talking on a cell phone while driving contributed to "driver inattention," a factor in 25 percent of all accidents.\nJust as in accidents involving a drunken driver, the overwhelming majority of these drivers were the ones who initiated the accidents. People weren't hitting them; they were hitting other people.\nThe NHTSA report included statistics from Oklahoma, one of the few states to track cell phone-related accidents during the last few years. Police noted that around 10 percent of accidents with drivers with cell phones in their cars were using their phones at the time of the accident.\nAs the number of cell phones increased from year to year in the study, this 10 percent figure stayed the same. But as the number of people using cell phones while driving increased, the number of accidents increased.\nMobile phone usage is growing worldwide at a rate of 65 percent annually and is expected to hit 410 million users by the end of 2000, according to Gartner Group's Dataquest, a Stamford, Conn. consulting firm. Based on all of the statistics, this increased usage will only cause more accidents on our nation's highways. \nThe public has acknowledged that drinking and driving makes our roads unsafe for other drivers and has taken steps to eliminate the problem, by passing tougher sentencing laws and lowering the maximum blood alcohol content allowed for drivers. \nNow, new technology has created another unsafe driving situation. As a society, we need to address this issue, passing laws like those enacted in some places. The research proves the talking and driving habit is dangerous, so whatever we can do to curb that habit and make our roads safer for all drivers is a step in the right direction.