Tonight, the Dubuque City Council passed the first-in-Iowa ban on usage of cell phones while driving, at least of hand-held use while driving. Hands-free devices apparently are still OK. In an early report from the Chicago Tribune, it was reported that, by a 7 – 0 vote, the council’s action will go into effect on Friday, February 19th….
DUBUQUE, Iowa – Dubuque will be the first Iowa municipality to prohibit drivers from using hand-held cell phones while behind the wheel.
The city council approved the ordinance 7-0 Monday.
But the Telegraph Herald reports that the measure could be negated if the Iowa Legislature passes a measure of its own as expected.
The statewide legislation could ban municipalities from adopting their own ordinances and instead require compliance with state law. And it’s possible the state law could only target text-messaging while driving.
The temptation to use cell phone while driving is pretty strong, I’ll openly attest to that, in fact, I did – here. I have noticed a few studies recently published that claim bans on hand-held cell phone usage don’t, categorically reduce accidents. One of a few of these recent studies comes from the Highway Loss Data Institute (news report link here from Christian Science Monitor). The report says that while taking away hands-on devices usage “may” reduce the risk, the reality is that actual accident rates stay about the same when hands-free usage remains available to drivers.
Perhaps the bigger problem isn’t the actual fumbling around done while dialing numbers, texting, and answering calls. Maybe the real issue is the lack of mental concentration the driver experiences while engaged in a conversation.
Either way, I’m not categorically opposed to the ban, I think ultimately the problem will be solved by technology that maybe doesn’t exist. Maybe cell phones could self-disable when in motion at speeds faster than walking? If I only had a bazillion dollars, I’d be patent protecting that fine idea already.
But, guess what? Even walking while texting is dangerous, see NPR story here…
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }