Back in prehistory, say the early 1990s, those devices we today call cell phones were more commonly called car phones.
The nation's cellular phone network was designed around the premise that the devices would be used largely to keep busy workers in touch with the office even while they were on the road.
The towers that make wireless phone communication possible were built along interstates and designed so one cell could hand off a call to another when the caller was driving by at 60 mph or more.
So efforts to ban cell phone use while driving face steep obstacles - in the Maryland General Assembly and all over the United States.
Even though it's been amply proven in study after study that cell phone use is a dangerous distraction behind the wheel, the case did not become clear until the practice was firmly rooted in our behavior patterns.
State legislators are no different than the rest of us. They're perfectly willing to ban something other - especially younger - people do (text-messaging) but when it comes to prohibiting bad behavior they themselves indulge in, their dedication to safety melts like a stick of butter in the summer sun.
(I'm hardly any better. I've read the studies and accept that my driving skills are no greater than those of any other motorist with a cell phone in hand. I've pretty well kicked the habit of placing calls while driving - except maybe at long red lights - but it's still hard to resist answering when the phone rings. That reaction is virtually Pavlovian. But I'm working on it. Last weekend I even blew off an editor's call until I could pull off to a safe place.)
So let's accept the premise that it's going to be a while before Maryland adopts an actual law banning driving while phoning. Employers such as Gov. Martin O'Malley and Mayor Sheila Dixon who impose policies restricting cell phone use on their employees are paving the way, but it's going to take time, public education and a lot more deaths.
So in the absence of a law, could we at least agree on an etiquette to cell phone use behind the wheel? The technology seems to have overwhelmed us before any modern-day Emily Post could codify the rules.
I won't presume to be that Emily, but here are a few suggestions for when she does get down to work:
When in doubt, don't: If it can wait until you're pulled off the road in a safe place, then wait.
