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Culture, not law will change cell phone drivers
Friday, June 13, 2008 | No comments posted.
The front page headlines are straightforward: “Teen drivers ignore cell phone restrictions.”
Well, duh.
Anyone under the impression that teenagers as a group pay much attention to what adults tell them they ought to do has never raised one.
Joking aside, the story was important for several reasons, not the least of which is that the risk of phoning and driving (or worse, texting and driving) is not confined to teenagers. And Americans of any age tend to resist when government imposes a law designed to protect them from themselves.
Want proof? Think back to when mandatory seat belt laws first began to appear. Those laws targeted everyone, not just teenagers.
There were the usual complaints about the nanny state sticking its nose where it didn’t belong, tirades about freedom, “victimless crime” and so on. And it was years before compliance rates rose to reasonable levels.
In 1970, the national rate of seat belt use was 15 percent. By 1989, the rate in Oregon was 43 percent. Oregon’s seat belt law took effect in 1990; use rose to 50 percent that year. Today, Oregon ranks third in the country for seat belt use at 94 percent. Most of us don’t consciously decide to fasten our belts before driving — it’s become as automatic as putting the key in the ignition.
So it will be, eventually, for abstaining from cell-phone use behind the wheel.
Laws prohibiting teen drivers from using their phones are just now being adopted — Oregon’s law took effect Jan. 1. The cell phone lobby will no doubt resist attempts to extend the ban to adult drivers, although some states have adopted such laws. And drivers themselves will be slow to admit that carrying on a phone conversation while piloting an automobile is not a good idea.
A much-cited study at the University of Utah in 2006 found that participants who talked on a cell phone while operating a driving simulator were as impaired as if they had been drinking and the impairment was the same when they used a handsfree device.
Still, humans are a stubborn bunch, and changing our behavior is a slow process.
So if you’re waiting for the day when all motorists — teenagers and adults — just hang up and drive, don’t hold your breath. It will take time and far too many grisly crashes before Americans are persuaded that the phone call they couldn’t take or make in their cars 20 years ago is far less important than their lives.
Medford Mail Tribune
Well, duh.
Anyone under the impression that teenagers as a group pay much attention to what adults tell them they ought to do has never raised one.
Joking aside, the story was important for several reasons, not the least of which is that the risk of phoning and driving (or worse, texting and driving) is not confined to teenagers. And Americans of any age tend to resist when government imposes a law designed to protect them from themselves.
Want proof? Think back to when mandatory seat belt laws first began to appear. Those laws targeted everyone, not just teenagers.
There were the usual complaints about the nanny state sticking its nose where it didn’t belong, tirades about freedom, “victimless crime” and so on. And it was years before compliance rates rose to reasonable levels.
In 1970, the national rate of seat belt use was 15 percent. By 1989, the rate in Oregon was 43 percent. Oregon’s seat belt law took effect in 1990; use rose to 50 percent that year. Today, Oregon ranks third in the country for seat belt use at 94 percent. Most of us don’t consciously decide to fasten our belts before driving — it’s become as automatic as putting the key in the ignition.
So it will be, eventually, for abstaining from cell-phone use behind the wheel.
Laws prohibiting teen drivers from using their phones are just now being adopted — Oregon’s law took effect Jan. 1. The cell phone lobby will no doubt resist attempts to extend the ban to adult drivers, although some states have adopted such laws. And drivers themselves will be slow to admit that carrying on a phone conversation while piloting an automobile is not a good idea.
A much-cited study at the University of Utah in 2006 found that participants who talked on a cell phone while operating a driving simulator were as impaired as if they had been drinking and the impairment was the same when they used a handsfree device.
Still, humans are a stubborn bunch, and changing our behavior is a slow process.
So if you’re waiting for the day when all motorists — teenagers and adults — just hang up and drive, don’t hold your breath. It will take time and far too many grisly crashes before Americans are persuaded that the phone call they couldn’t take or make in their cars 20 years ago is far less important than their lives.
Medford Mail Tribune
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