Cell rage boils over, but solutions are scarce

Our friends at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration poured gasoline on a metaphorical car wreck earlier this week when they released a survey that suggested at any given time, about three percent of drivers are talking on hand-held cellular phones.

Three percent!

The NHTSA reported at least 500,000 drivers are chatting on their cell phones simultaneously during the daytime. Almost twice as many are kvetching during non-rush hours, the agency noted. It added that some form of driver distraction – including talking, eating, reading or even changing radio stations – is involved in 20 to 30 percent of all car crashes.

All that’s missing, really, is for the readers of this column to light this figurative fire – which, after last week’s column, I’m confident you’re prepared to do. But instead of focusing on the hundreds of indignant responses, I’d like to present the possible solutions that some of you were kind enough to share with me.

To recap, here’s what happened in the last exciting episode of this feature. I reviewed two recent cell-phone related news events, including New York’s decision to ban hand-held phones and a report of a woman on a Czech Airlines flight who was arrested for using her wireless device in mid-air. Reaction from the flying public was as swift as it was predictable. One faction thought any regulation of cell phones was stupid. The other half thought it was a great idea.

Some of you criticized me for trying to discuss two fundamentally different issues in a single column, and your point’s well taken. So this time around, I’m going to deal with answers to one of the wireless world’s most enduring hot-button issues: the problem of driving and talking. How do we prevent chatty motorists from becoming a danger to themselves, their passengers and other drivers?

Enforce existing laws. Many of you insisted that new laws weren’t the answer to solving this problem – old laws are. “Distracted driving is already illegal. Enforce it,” wrote reader Elaine Anderson. Indeed, most governments already have rules on the books that make it illegal to drive while distracted or to operate a vehicle carelessly. Shouldn’t dialing a cellular phone – and talking on one – be considered a careless action when you’re speeding down a highway at 85 miles per hour? New laws that limit cell phone use by drivers have the potential to turn frequent travelers into a special class of criminal, and that’s unfair according to many of this column’s readers. And I agree that singling out road warriors who use wireless devices while other motorists, who read, apply makeup or eat while driving, is inadequate. But are the existing laws sufficient?

Fine cell phone users if they’re in an accident.. Reader Gary David suggests that fines should be doubled or tripled for all moving traffic tickets if a cell phone is involved. “Increase fines exponentially for repeat violations,” he says. “Suspend a driver’s license after three repeats.” I like this idea, but it isn’t effective as a deterrent when the driver is killed. You can’t fine someone who is dead, after all. But it puts motorists on notice that if they aren’t responsible with their cell phones, they’ll have to pay a high price. And they could lose their license. It also emphasizes personal responsibility and assumes drivers are innocent until proven guilty, at least when it comes to using their wireless devices.

Disable the phones in a moving vehicle. That suggestion comes from reader Kirk Robbins, who believes that by removing the temptation to talk on the phone, the roads will be a safer place. “Cell phone companies should be required to install a labeled button on your phone that would require the service to respond to a call while you are driving that tells the caller you are driving and to please leave a brief message and you will be back to them as soon as you finish,” he says. It could someday come to that, where governments compel cellular providers to disable wireless communications when a transmitter is traveling at a certain speed. I’m not sure if that’s possible from a technical point of view, and I’d be upset if a passenger in my car couldn’t make a call (which would be perfectly safe).

Warn other drivers. “How about if motorists were required to turn on their hazard lights whenever they were using their cell phone and driving at the same time?” asks reader Jennifer Johnson. “It wouldn’t protect motorists at perpendicular intersections, who can not see the flashing lights, but at least it would alert the rest of us to an impaired driver.” Imagine three percent of all cars using their hazard lights – warning other motorists that they were talking on a cell phone. A few years ago I wrote a story suggesting that tourists driving rental cars should be similarly marked, and the column got quite a negative reaction. But this idea is different, and I think it’s got some merit. Now if only we could wire the hands-free devices to the hazard lights, then we’d be set.

Block the calls. This is a last-ditch and extreme measure that reader Adam D’Auria wrote me to propose. “Cell phone blockers could be placed around busy intersections or highway exits. Eventually people would stop using their cell phone while driving because they would just be cut off in mid-conversation,” he says. I think an idea like this should only be implemented if accident rates shoot through the roof and if cell phone users remain defiant about their perceived right to use a wireless device wherever, whenever and however they please. Two immediate drawbacks: 1) If blockers are placed at busy intersections, then drivers might try to redial their disconnected call at the intersection, which would only increase the number of accidents; and 2) what about the pedestrians and people in office buildings who want to make a wireless call?

As you can see, there are no easy solutions. But we’re on the right path.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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