National Safety Council Calls For Ban on Wireless Device Drivers

January 12, 2009 (by Michael Ehline)

The National Safety Council has asked for a total ban on the use of wireless devices while driving, this comes after the cell phone industry advocated safe driving with the use of hand free devices.  Cell phone injury lawyers have long advocated for hands free phone devices.

Studies that have been done have proven that talking on cell phones created hazardous conditions for drivers, putting them at four times the risk of being involved in an accident. According to statements from the National Safety Council president and CEO, Janet Froetscher comparing driving under the influence as being against the law and taking drivers keys away with it being time to take cell phones away.

The National Safety Council has a plan to approach the ban they are proposing for drivers use of cell phones and devices, the first is to advocate legislation, they also plan to lobby Congress and through education of the 1.5 million people annually who take defensive driving training.

There have been laws put into place in California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Washington D.C. for drivers caught talking on hand held cell phones, as well as other states that have outlawed cell phones and text messaging by teen aged drivers and bus drivers.

What Froetscher and the National Safety Council is calling from an across the board ban on the use of cell phones while driving as studies that have been done by the government and universities have shown that hands free wireless devices have not aided in helping drivers to concentrate and might even be more dangerous in some cases.

This is the same sentiment of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, who has not commented on the proposed ban called for by the National Safety Council.

On the other side of this proposed ban the GHSA stated that the numerous studies that have been done have found that the use of hands free cell phone devices does not diminish the risk of accidents, it has been found that activity in the brain is reduced by approximately 37 % with the use of a cell phone while driving. A recent study just completed by the University of Utah proved the use of hands free cell phone devices are as distracting to drivers as the use of a cell phone.

But not everyone agrees. The University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research office analyzed five years of highway accident data and found that the most frequently reported sources of distraction for drivers involved in tow-away accidents were outside persons, objects or events (29.4%), followed by adjusting the radio, CD or cassette (11.4%), and then by other occupants in the vehicle (10.9%). Using a cell phone ranked far down their list with a frequency of 1.5%.

Other highway surveys have come up with similar rankings. In 2003, Delaware police reviewed about 1,300 accidents in their state and found only four in which they were distracted by a cell phone. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has also ranked cell phones low on their list of distractions that cause accidents. However, a California Highway Patrol ranking placed cell phone use second only to adjusting a car stereo in contributing to highway accidents in Southern California.