Distracted Drivers and Technology 
Posted 2010-06-18 17:11 in Soap-Box by Don Mayer
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As we invent more and more ways to communicate with each other, it is also important to establish standards for appropriate times to use that technology. There was a move to allow cell phone use on planes that at first, I thought would be just fine. That was until I imagined myself trying to read a book (I do a lot of reading on airplanes) and being surrounded by people yapping on their cell phones. And why is it that someone wandering around talking into their Bluetooth earpiece is more annoying than someone actually talking into a phone?
This year, the Vermont legislature passed a law that bans texting while driving. DOH! That was the good news I guess, but our legislators did not have the courage to ban the use of handheld cell phones because—yes, you guessed it—it is an election year. I reached out to the legislators as a motorcyclist to appeal for this handheld ban.
I have taken my own informal survey as I ride my motorcycle around Vermont and I would estimate that fully 15-25% of drivers are talking on their cell phones when they are driving. As I ride by them, I glance into their vehicles and it is clear from their body language that their attention is, at a minimum, divided. Many seem to have most of their attention on their phone conversation and only a little on the road. People in their cages (as we on two wheels call car drivers) seem to think they are invulnerable.
Distraction from cell phone use extends a driver’s reaction time as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of 0.8%, according to a study by the University of Utah. Driving while distracted is a factor in 25% of the accidents that are reported to the police. Carnegie Mellon reported that driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37%!
These are sobering statistics that I can verify as I ride my motorcycle. I have had drivers on cell phones cut me off, swerve into my lane or make other bone-head moves because they are just not paying enough attention and a motorcycle is smaller than a car.
I think it is time for legislation that bans handheld cell phones from drivers and stiffens the penalty for their usage. While the use of a hands-free device also is a distraction, it is clearly not as serious a problem. The problem is even more serious for teenage drivers, who have the highest proportion of distracted drivers involved in fatal crashes. Texting, looking at email, checking your stocks or any other fiddling with your handheld device is as dangerous as driving while intoxicated and perhaps the penalties with license suspensions should be made similarly strong.
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Image credit: JDPower.com
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