In case you’ve forgotten, among the issues the Florida Legislature hasn’t gotten around to addressing – while it wasn’t addressing other stuff such as revenue reform – is that of drivers, especially teens, using cell phones. Oh, multiple bills were filed, so there are those who officially think preoccupied, distracted drivers are an issue, if not an unconscionable menace. But there is still no law in Florida that prohibits or limits cell phone use while driving.
Maybe next year. Or, like revenue reform, maybe never.
The need is more than manifest. After pouring over research, the National Safety Council says that cell phone use increases the risk of a crash fourfold. It equates talking on cell phones — hand-held or hands-free — with drunken driving.
“Public awareness and the laws haven’t caught up with what the scientists are telling us,” points out NSC president Janet Froetscher. “There is no dispute that driving while talking on your cell phone, or texting while driving, is dangerous.”
As a result, the NSC has called for a cell phone ban for drivers. And for the record, adds Froetscher, there are an estimated 270 million cell phone users in the U.S. – and 80 per cent of them talk on the phone while driving.
Then add to the equation the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s finding that teens are three times more likely than the average driver to get into a fatal crash. Also include an AAA study that showed that 25 per cent of 16- and 17-year-olds text-message while driving. And another AAA study that ranks Florida among the worst states for teenage traffic fatalities.
Then add common sense. Even the most vacuous, fatuous cell phone conversations can blind drivers to visual cues, slowing reaction time and situational awareness. Why wouldn’t they?
We all drive. We’re all on the road. We all want to protect ourselves – and our kids. If the call is that damn important, it’s worth pulling over to make it.