Sison: Criminalizing use of cell phones while driving

February 18, 2011

WOMEN’s rights lawmaker Rep. Susan Yap-Sulit (2nd, District, Tarlac) is expediting the approval of a bill imposing stiffer penalties against motorists who are caught using their cell phones while driving. Yap-Sulit (2nd District, Tarlac), author of House Bill 318, said the measure will declare this dangerous habit as a criminal act. Under the bill, drivers could be pulled over by traffic policemen if caught talking or texting while driving.
The bill imposes a fine ranging from P3,000 to P10,000 or imprisonment of not more than one year. Yap-Sulit cited the report of the Philippines Global Road Safety Partnership (PGRSP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) showing that cell phone-related accidents significantly increased from 70 cases in 2008 to 491 in 2009. The data translates to an increase of 601 percent in road accidents involving motorists using cellular phones while driving.
Yap-Sulit said among the countries that have banned the use of cell phone when driving unless used with some form of hands-free kit are Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Botswana, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India – New Delhi, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, UK, and Zimbabwe.
This reminder to motorists used to be installed conspicuously as signages along North Luzon Expressway and MacArthur Highway some years ago. It is advisable to re-install this public reminder to pre-empt vehicular accidents involving the use of cell phones while driving.
In the US, several states ban the use of cell phones while driving such as Arkansas. In California, violators face a $20 fine for a first offense and a $50 ticket for subsequent infractions. Text messaging while driving (including emails) is also banned. In Connecticut, teens are also forbidden from using hands-free kits while moving. In Georgia, school bus drivers are banned from using cell phones while driving.
DeKalb County has fines when crashes can be attributed to driving while using a cell phone. In Massachusetts, drivers are required to keep at least one hand on the steering wheel while holding a phone. Teenagers and provisional drivers are banned with a $100 fine plus delays in license upgrades for offenders. In New Jersey, the ban was passed in 2004 with a $100 fine.
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In recent developments and studies, a 2009 study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute researchers found that collisions are 20 times greater when drivers were texting while driving.
The study found that texting takes a driver’s eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds, long enough to blindly travel the length of a football field at 55 mph.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that 25 persons were killed including a train engineer and 135 injured in a 2008 train accident in Chatsworth, California. The train engineer of the Metrolink commuter train #111 crashed into a Pacific Union freight train. The collision was primarily caused by the engineer running a red light because he was texting while driving.
In a 2008 study conducted by the Clemson University Psychology Department, researchers found that text messaging while driving is more dangerous than talking on the phone. Using a simulated test, they found motorists who are texting and using iPods while driving leave their lanes at least 10 percent more often than other drivers. Texting while driving is now categorized as a national hazard. One solution being raised is the Alert Drivers Act of 2009 where states are required to implement federally set minimum penalties for texting while driving or forfeit 25 percent of their highway financing according to a September 2009 publication in the New York Times.
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According to a report of Bryan Knowles, the popularity of cell phones have increased over the years, so have the number of public safety advocates who link cell phone use by drivers to numerous fatal automobile accidents. In March 1999, the Cleveland suburb of Brooklyn, Ohio passed an ordinance, making it illegal for motorists to use handheld cell phones while driving through its jurisdiction. While the cell phone industry has lobbied against such actions, 22 states and hundreds of cities and towns across the nation have considered legislation limiting the use of cell phones by motorists. Most cell phone citations are secondary offenses after a driver has been ticketed for speeding, and carry a fine ranging from $75 to $250.
Dialing numbers, receiving calls and holding conversations on cell phones while driving eats away at the concentration required of motorists. Beyond the tragic human toll of fatalities caused by drivers distracted by cell phones, scientific studies have established correlations between cell phone usage and accidents. A study of 699 Canadian drivers with cell phones found that “the risk of a collision when using a cellular telephone was four times higher than the risk when a cellular telephone was not being used.” The federal government and individual states must protect citizens by enacting legislation that restricts, if not completely outlaws the use of cell phones by motorists and when operating their vehicles.
When states issue drivers licenses, an individual motorist has been deemed both responsible and capable of making decisions behind the wheel. Holding a conversation on a cell phone while driving is no more distracting or different than talking to a passenger, eating fast food or fumbling for a music tape or CD. Motorists were involved in accidents due to inattentive driving decades before the advent of cell phones and no US studies have proven that cell phones cause accidents.
A driver should be able to choose whether or not to use a cell phone while driving. Attempts to legally prohibit this infringes on the personal rights of motorists. An estimated 44 percent of all US motorists have a cell phone in the vehicle. Brazil, Israel, Italy, Japan, Spain and United Kingdom have restrictions on cell phone use while driving. Brooklyn, Ohio was the first jurisdiction in the US to ban cell phone use while driving. Violators of the Marlboro, NJ ordinance face a fine of $250.
The Hilltown Township cell phone ban was adopted in December 1999 following the death of a two-year-old girl whose car was struck by another vehicle whose driver allegedly ignored a stop sign while talking on a cell phone (Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, American Automobile Association).
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Having a cell phone pressed to your ear while behind the wheel is equivalent of driving while intoxicated. This is according to a study by University of Utah psychologists. The study, published in the June 29, 2010 issue of Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, found that drivers talking on cell phones, either handheld or hands-free, are more likely to crash because they are distracted by conversation.
Using a driving simulator under four different conditions: with no distractions, using a handheld cell phone, talking on a hands-free cell phone, and while intoxicated to the 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level, 40 participants followed a simulated pace car that braked intermittently.
Researchers found that the drivers on cell phones drove more slowly, braked more slowly and were more likely to crash. In fact, the three participants who collided into the pace car were chatting away. None of the drunken drivers crashed.
“This study does not mean people should start driving drunk,” said co author Frank Drews. “It means that driving while talking on a cell phone is as bad as or maybe worse than driving drunk, which is completely unacceptable and cannot be tolerated by society.”

Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/opinion/sison-criminalizing-use-cell-phones-while-driving

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