Driving, cell phones don't mix for officials

Traffic safety officials agree that distractions, no matter what kind, are a major cause of traffic crashes.

And one of the biggest distractions are cell phones.

"Anyone, myself included, when you are not paying attention to the road, it's dangerous," said St. Florian Police Chief Ralph Richey. "Talking on the phone while driving is just like watching a video going down the road. You get caught up in it and lose your focus.

"I've worked way too many wrecks where people have reached down to get phones or where talking or calling on the cell phone and they got distracted and it was too late."

The National Safety Council, headquartered in Itasca, Ill., is making a push nationwide for a ban on cell phone use while driving.

"There are some states that have some form of law governing cell phone use by drivers, but there is not a state that has a comprehensive law strictly banning the use; that's what we're encouraging," said Meredith Morris, a spokeswoman for the National Safety Council.

Alabama is one of 24 states without any kind of restrictions on cell phone use while driving. There are 23 states with partial or limited restrictions on cell phone use and the issue is being debated in three state legislatures.

Morris said a recent study from Harvard Center of Risk Analysis estimated that cell phone use while driving contributes to 6 percent of all crashes.

"Which equates to 636,000 crashes, 330,000 injuries, 12,000 serious injuries and 2,600 deaths each year," she said.

Janet Froetscher, president and CEO of the National Safety Council, said studies show that driving while using a cell phone puts drivers at a four times greater risk of a crash.

"Driving drunk is also dangerous and against the law. When our friends have been drinking, we take the car keys away," she said in a statement. "It's time to take the cell phone away."

Legislation on banning texting and cell phone use by drivers has been discussed in Alabama, but nothing has been put into law.

"I've been coming back from Montgomery and been behind people and thought they were drunk and then I'd get up next to them and realize they were on the phone or texting," said Rep. Marcel Black, D-Muscle Shoals.

Black said texting is more dangerous than talking. He said the Alabama House passed a prohibition on texting while driving but it did not get the support needed in the Senate to become law.

"I'd like to see something requiring hands-free" use of cell phones while driving, Black said. "Requiring hands free is a good compromise over banning it totally."

Tuscumbia Police Chief Tony Logan said there is no easy solution, but he would support a ban on cell phone use or at least some kind of restrictions.

"It would be one of the most difficult things we've ever faced to try and enforce, but it could be done," Logan said.

Logan agreed that hands-free accessibility could be a compromise.

"It seems that everybody has a cell phone, and they are a great thing," he said. "Every cell phone that is sold today has a hands-free attachment."

Richey said hands-free attachments may not be the solution to the problem, but it would be a start.

"I sat here in my office and watched out the window, and out of 25 cars I counted, 17 people were on their phones," he said.

Morris said the National Safety Center has started a nationwide billboard campaign to educate people on the dangers of cell phone use while driving. One of the 67 billboards is in Montgomery.

"A lot of people are not aware of the dangers of this activity," she said.

"They've used the cell phone while driving or texted while driving and never had an accident, so they don't realize why it is such a distraction.

"That's the purpose behind the nationwide campaign. We want to educate them; let them know it is dangerous and hopefully stop some of the accidents before they happen."

Tom Smith can be reached at 740-5757 or tom.smith@TimesDaily.com.