As a mom with a house full of kids, sometimes the only place that I can actually make a quiet phone call is when I’m in my car, thanks to the help of my hands-free device and OnStar.
However, on Tuesday I learned about a
proposed cell phone ban in which the National Transportation Safety Board urged all 50 states to stop drivers from using portable electronic devices in the car.
The only exceptions to the proposed ban: using your GPS to navigate would still be allowed, and you’d get a pass on using your cell phone in the car in an emergency.
Does calling in my pizza delivery order count as an emergency? Kidding.
Not surprisingly, lawmakers and police are split on the policy, mostly because it will fall on local authorities to enforce such a ban. Local police are already having a challenging time figuring out how to fairly enforce the no texting while driving law already in place in most states. (Was that driver texting or dialing?)
And trying to figure out if someone is talking on the phone through a small Bluetooth headset or other hands-free device will be even more difficult for police officers. More like impossible.
Instead of banning mobile phone use in the car across the board, which most law enforcement and transportation experts agree would be extremely difficult, some are calling for more education and support for initiatives that help show the dangers of talking on a cell phone while driving, similar to some of the texting while driving programs we’ve all seen–like this texting while driving youtube video which was a huge hit a few years back. (Warning: It’s heavy.)
Though we at Cool Mom Tech strongly advocate staying
strictly hands-free when using the phone in the car, we agree the roads probably would be safer without any sort of cell phone usage whatsoever. But is a total cell phone ban feasible and realistic?
What say you, mamas? Should any sort of cell phone usage be banned in the car?
Truth told, I truly do feel it’s too distracting…even hands-free. Know I am not as coordinated as most but I often even find myself telling the kids to be quieter in the car so I can concentrate. I can count 5 times this week alone wherein fellow moms on cellphones (BlueTooth on two) nearly hit me at a tricky traffic corner near our school. After their panic face softens, they always offer an apologetic wave. Maybe the answer is just to stop it altogether.
Confessions continued: re: the quiet locale for a call? Bathroom. Locked door. 😉 Sure it’s echo-ey, but no one gets hurt.
I hope they do ban all use of phones. And implement so many other laws. The enormous amount of lives lost in car accidents is ridiculous. We act as if it’s a given when in fact much could be done to lower this number. I’m always surprised more attention isn’t put on the amount of people killed. Oh wait. It would be inconvenient for us to slow down, get off our phones and really pay attention. But so worth it. I hope things change! Interesting post.
Because the research has proven that driving while talking on a phone is just as dangerous as driving under the influence, I do think we need a ban. It’s going to require a major attitude change from drivers–and I’m just as guilty as anyone else. Even now, I often fight the urge to pick up the phone and make a quick phone call on the way to pick up my daughter from school or something. There’s no reason I can’t wait the five minutes ’til I’m in the school parking lot and then call, but it feel so convenient. But then again, most people thought they were just fine to drive after a few drinks only a few decades ago, while most of us today wouldn’t dream of driving drunk, much less with our kids in the car.
Of course, there’s also the reality that I didn’t even have a cell phone ten years ago, so I have to remind myself that I don’t really “need” to make a call while driving, even if I really want to.
I also completely understand the whole “there are no children in my car/the baby has finally fallen asleep/I need just a few minutes of quiet to make this phone call,” but the risks really are too great.
Enforcing the ban will obviously be a problem, though I wish the cell phone companies could work with car markers to find a way to automatically disable phones while in motion. There’d need to be some kind of technology that would allow the phone to distinguish between whether the user is in the driver or passenger’s seat, but I’m pretty sure our tech-savy innovators out there and come up with something. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to actually happen, because in this country we like to give people the option to kill other people through utter foolishness.
I will weigh-in on the less popular opinion. I car commute for 11/2 hrs a day. I depend on this time talking on Bluetooth (or texting when I’m carpooling and someone else is driving) to free up my limited precious time at home. I have driven this commute for 6 years and know the highway very well. I don’t think over-regulation is the solution. Shouldn’t we make sure people are capable of making responsible decisions before we let them drive at all!