Posted on: Tuesday, March 13, 2001
Cell phones debated as traffic risk
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Khalil Spencer has seen it happen.
Most of us have.
Many of us are among the guilty.
But from the biking lane he often inhabits, he has a better view than most of those in the cars around him, one hand on the wheel, one on the cell phone pressed to an ear.
“I’ve seen a lot of drivers weaving all over the road,” said the former president of the Hawai‘i Bicycling League, a University of Hawai‘i geologist.
Everyone accepts, based on medical data, that alcohol impairs driving ability, but there is relatively little statistical backing for a charge that cell phones have the same effect, Spencer said. Most critics of the practice go by “circumstantial evidence and gut feeling,” he said, acknowledging that he shares some of that feeling.
“I know if I’m dialing a cell phone, I’m not concentrating on driving,” Spencer said.
That instinct lies behind numerous attempts to restrict the use of phones in cars, both here and across the Mainland. With very few exceptions, proposals founder in legislative committees.
Locally, the most recent proposal (SB 679) was held in the Senate Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations Committee, following a Feb. 8 hearing. That measure would have required drivers using cell phones to be equipped with headphones or “hands-free” devices to minimize the distraction of placing cell calls.
Three other similar bills were introduced in the House, but never got a hearing.
Sen. Rod Tam, D-13th (Nu‘uanu, Downtown, Sand Island), who introduced the Senate bill, said there was “too much opposition from the companies that are, somehow, fearful about this.”
| The National Conference of State Legislatures tracks lawmaking on the issue of cellular phones and many other issues. In its update last year, the conference reported that, although no state has restricted cell phones in cars, local jurisdictions are moving quickly to address the issue.
Nine local jurisdictions now require drivers to use hands-free cell phone devices while operating a motor vehicle: Brooklyn, Ohio; West Conshohocken, Conshohocken, Lebanon and Hilltown Township, Pa.; Suffolk County, N.Y.; Carteret and Marlboro, N.J.; Brookline, Mass.
State restrictions on the use of cellular telephones, according to the report:
California — Rental cars with cellular telephone equipment must include written operating instructions concerning its safe use.
Florida — Cellular phone use is permitted as long as it provides sound through one ear and allows surrounding sound to be heard with the other ear.
Massachusetts — Cellular phone use is permitted as long as it does not interfere with the operation of the vehicle and one hand remains on the steering wheel at all times. |
Wireless phone companies testifying against the bill were VoiceStream Wireless, AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint, and all of the executives maintained that public education on the safe use of cell phones in the car is preferable to singling out phone use among a number of car distractions that are not regulated.
Tam said he planned to introduce a resolution urging companies to beef up their safety-education initiatives.
Some companies are working on this now. For example, Sherrie Coronas, Verizon spokeswoman, said cell-phone safety is the lead article in the March issue of the customer newsletter.
The only testimony in support of the bill came from the state Department of Transportation, which favored “the intent” of the measure but also saw education as the key solution and argued that cell phones should come with instructions on their safe use.
The Honolulu Police Department also opposed the bill. Capt. Bryan Wauke of the department’s traffic division told The Advertiser that the existing, generic citation for “inattention to driving” already gives police officers the right to punish unsafe use of cell phones.
“You can tell when it happens,” Wauke said. “You see a person drifting into another lane without signalling, and then you see them jerk back.”
Also, he said, “There’s a lot of things that divide attention . . . arguments between people in the car . . . where the baby is crying and the driver is turning around . . . people putting on makeup. “Why pick on cell phones, when it’s not really the cause, and laws already exist?”
The issue goes back a decade here. In 1991, lawmakers asked Dineh Davis, UH associate professor of communications, to study how cell phones in cars may add a safety risk.
HPD did not (and still does not) keep records on whether cell phones are involved in accidents, Davis said, but she got the backing of the police chief and surveyed about 1,000 patrol officers for their perception of the risk.
“The officers agreed that there were safety issues, but the safety issues compared to the benefits were negligible,” Davis said. “People changed lanes without noticing; people stopped at green lights and ran stop signs because they were on the phone and not paying attention.
“About 30 percent thought there were distinct inattention issues,” she said.
However, she added, the police also said phones in cars are helpful because they enable drivers to alert the police to traffic accidents and other mishaps.
What emerged from the study, she said, was the addition of questions on cell-phone use to the driver’s license written exam.
State Rep. Cynthia Thielen, R-49th (Kailua, Kano‘ehe Bay Drive), also introduced a bill to ban cell-phone use while driving, a measure that was shouted down.
“When I walked door-to-door (in the campaign season afterward), generally people are very nice,” Thielen said. “But there were about five guys who said, ‘Don’t mess with my toy.’”
The advance of technology since then has both aggravated and mitigated the problem. Nationwide, almost 90 million people subscribe to wireless telephone services now, magnifying the potential problem. Last December, a Maryland man was acquitted of manslaughter in what is thought to be the nation’s first criminal trial in a case involving a driver distracted by a cell phone.
Also, additional digital devices have been added to the on-board options in high-end automobiles. In 1999, General Motors and Ford signed accords with telecommunications companies to fit future cars with concierge services, Web-based information, online e-mail capabilities and other information and entertainment services.
But hands-free accessories for cell phones, from headsets to voice-activation models, have become more widely available, Davis said, so there is hope for responsible phone use in cars.
“It would clearly make sense to educate people and caution people,” she said. “I think the technology is changing so that it can become less of a distraction . . . the technological solution may be there.”
Advertiser staff writer Vicki Viotti can be reached at vviotti@
honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
|
