By Jamie Stengle
The Associated Press
The National Transportation Safety Board declared this week that texting, emailing or chatting while driving is just too dangerous to be allowed anywhere in the United States. It urged all states to impose total bans except for emergencies.
The NTSB, an independent agency that investigates accidents and makes safety recommendations, doesn’t have the power to impose regulations or make grants. But its suggestions carry significant weight with lawmakers and regulators.
Still, a decision rests with the states, meaning that 50 separate legislatures would have to act. And many lawmakers are just as wedded to their cellphones as the public.
“I think all of us have mixed feelings on this issue. How could you not?” said U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, whose northern Virginia district has some of the longest, most traffic-choked commutes in the country.
Before going to Congress, the Democrat spent most of his career at the county level, driving around Fairfax County with his cellphone. Now he commutes to Capitol Hill by carpool or mass transit so he can use his phone without getting behind the wheel.
While he’s sympathetic to the NTSB’s safety concerns, he said, a blanket ban on cellphone use would be unenforceable. But he agrees that hands-free devices offer little improvement over those that are hand-held.
“It’s a cognitive distraction,” he said. “The mental attention shifts … to that other party, not to the task at hand.”
The federal government last year banned texting while driving for commercial truck and bus drivers. The ban was extended to all hand-held cellphone use last month, although commercial drivers can still use hands-free devices.
