THE HIGHWAYS are filled with anecdotal evidence suggesting that cell phones and driving don't mix.
So banning cell phones while driving is an easy call. Right?
New York legislators thought so when they passed a measure that will make the Empire State the first to prohibit motorists from using hand-held phones.
But New York lawmakers did something else, too: They called for more study.
They got it backward. More research is needed before, not after, lawmakers pass legislation on mobile-phone motoring. Much of what we know so far comes from a 1997 New England Journal of Medicine article, which concluded that cell phone use while driving raises the risk of collision four-fold. It was a good start, but didn't tell the full story.
The report collides head-on with a recent American Automobile Association study that found talking on cell phones was among the lesser driving distractions, ranking below outside distractions, adjusting car radios, other occupants and eating or drinking. Reading, shaving and applying makeup while driving weren't on the list - but surely they happen.
Other studies suggest New York's ban won't extirpate the cell phone hazard. While the measure will ban hand-held phones, it will permit hands-free devices. Research that includes a University of Utah study finds hands-free phoning as dangerous as hand-held - the phone conversation, not the device, is the distraction.
In Maryland, legislators in February wisely refused to pass a proposal that would ban cell phones. The state should wait a bit longer and collect better evidence first.
Since October, Maryland State Police and other agencies have listed cell phone use on their accident reports along with other contributing factors to accidents.
These findings will add to the small but growing body of knowledge we have about a still-new driving distraction and enable state policy-makers to come up with an appropriate response.
