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By COURTNEY C. RADSCH, The New York Times
WASHINGTON - Christina Arnold was pulled over by a Washington police officer last summer for driving while talking on her cellphone without a hands-free device. Hoping to avoid a $100 ticket, Ms. Arnold explained to the officer that she had an important call from her daughter's school and even offered to show him her telephone record. He declined, she said, and she managed to get off with a warning.
But thousands of other drivers in Washington have not been as lucky.
Only the District of Columbia, New York State and New Jersey have passed legislation banning the use of hand-held cellphones while driving, and they have issued more than 400,000 tickets and warnings since New York enacted the first such law, in 2001.
In Washington and New York, the hands-free law is a primary violation, meaning the driver can be pulled over just for that violation, whereas in New Jersey it is a secondary offense, which means the driver must be stopped for another offense.
Several other states are considering bans on driving while holding a cellphone, including Maryland, which, after a spate of fatal accidents involving teenage drivers, may prohibit youthful drivers from using cellphones.
In Washington, law enforcement officials can issue either a warning ticket or a $100 citation. If a cited driver takes a hands-free device to adjudication, the fine is waived, but that works only once.
Although Ms. Arnold, 29, did not get an official warning, she took the advice of the officer who stopped her and bought a hands-free device.
"It cost only about $59 for the headset, which is good insurance against any $100 tickets," said Ms. Arnold, who works for a nongovernmental organization. "That's a definite deterrent never to talk on my phone again."
The Washington police have been issuing about 600 tickets and 250 warnings each month since the ordinance was enacted last August. New York has issued more than 360,000 tickets since December 2001, and the annual total has increased each year. About 60 percent of the tickets were issued in New York City.
But with cellphone-related incidents making up only a small percentage of motor vehicle accidents, even government officials wonder why this particular behavior was chosen for a law, since studies have shown that hands-free and hand-held cellphones are equally distracting.
"We've evaluated and come to the conclusion that hands-free use is just as risky or perhaps riskier than hand-held phones because it's the cognitive distraction that can compromise driving," said Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Mr. Tyson said research from within his agency and outside it, along with driving simulations, found that it was the talking on a cellphone while driving that was distracting, and that therefore cellphones should be used only in emergencies.
Even AAA of America, the automobile organization that helped draft Washington's ordinance, believes the real issue is cellphones, in general, which cause distracted driving, said John B. Townsend II, manager of public and government relations for AAA Mid-Atlantic.
Mr. Townsend cited a AAA analysis of 50 traffic deaths over a fixed period in the Washington area that found only 2 that possibly involved cellphone use. "In the cosmic scheme of things, it's not just the cellphone," he said. "We would not come right out and support a ban on hand-held cell phones. That's not the issue. The real issue is distracted drivers."
But the laws could be in response to people's fears rather than hard evidence, Mr. Townsend said. A survey by AAA Mid-Atlantic showed that 63 percent of motorists favored a ban on driving with hand-held cellphones (76 percent in Washington), with those favoring bans directed at new teenage drivers rising to 79 percent. Results of the survey, culled from 1,300 interviews in the Mid-Atlantic area in December 2003, also showed that 71 percent of drivers felt distracted using a cellphone.
But John Walls, the vice president of public affairs of CTIA, the Wireless Association, a trade organization representing wireless interests, said it was unfair and unnecessary to create hands-free laws.
"We question the need for a law singling out behavior that apparently is pretty far down the pecking order of accidents in the first place," Mr. Walls said. He cited statistics showing that before the New York law was enacted, fewer than one-hundredth of 1 percent of New York City accidents were related to cellphones.
But a spokesman for the New York Department of Motor Vehicles, Joseph Picchi, said that he thought the law was having an impact but that the department was still compiling statistics. A report is due by the end of 2005.
Mr. Picchi pointed out that the law requiring seat belts in automobiles had taken years to catch on but now had a compliance rate of 85 percent.
"Cellphones are one of the bigger distractions while driving," Mr. Picchi said.
Lt. Byron Hope, traffic safety coordinator for the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, said that it was too early to judge the effectiveness of the ordinance, but that it made people aware of their driving habits.
"There had to be some instances where people's driving was so bad that this law was sparked," Lieutenant Hope said. "We're not saying you can't talk on your cellphone. We just ask people to use some discretion."
01-18-05 07:16 EST
WASHINGTON - Christina Arnold was pulled over by a Washington police officer last summer for driving while talking on her cellphone without a hands-free device. Hoping to avoid a $100 ticket, Ms. Arnold explained to the officer that she had an important call from her daughter's school and even offered to show him her telephone record. He declined, she said, and she managed to get off with a warning.
But thousands of other drivers in Washington have not been as lucky.
Only the District of Columbia, New York State and New Jersey have passed legislation banning the use of hand-held cellphones while driving, and they have issued more than 400,000 tickets and warnings since New York enacted the first such law, in 2001.
In Washington and New York, the hands-free law is a primary violation, meaning the driver can be pulled over just for that violation, whereas in New Jersey it is a secondary offense, which means the driver must be stopped for another offense.
Several other states are considering bans on driving while holding a cellphone, including Maryland, which, after a spate of fatal accidents involving teenage drivers, may prohibit youthful drivers from using cellphones.
In Washington, law enforcement officials can issue either a warning ticket or a $100 citation. If a cited driver takes a hands-free device to adjudication, the fine is waived, but that works only once.
Although Ms. Arnold, 29, did not get an official warning, she took the advice of the officer who stopped her and bought a hands-free device.
"It cost only about $59 for the headset, which is good insurance against any $100 tickets," said Ms. Arnold, who works for a nongovernmental organization. "That's a definite deterrent never to talk on my phone again."
The Washington police have been issuing about 600 tickets and 250 warnings each month since the ordinance was enacted last August. New York has issued more than 360,000 tickets since December 2001, and the annual total has increased each year. About 60 percent of the tickets were issued in New York City.
But with cellphone-related incidents making up only a small percentage of motor vehicle accidents, even government officials wonder why this particular behavior was chosen for a law, since studies have shown that hands-free and hand-held cellphones are equally distracting.
"We've evaluated and come to the conclusion that hands-free use is just as risky or perhaps riskier than hand-held phones because it's the cognitive distraction that can compromise driving," said Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Mr. Tyson said research from within his agency and outside it, along with driving simulations, found that it was the talking on a cellphone while driving that was distracting, and that therefore cellphones should be used only in emergencies.
Even AAA of America, the automobile organization that helped draft Washington's ordinance, believes the real issue is cellphones, in general, which cause distracted driving, said John B. Townsend II, manager of public and government relations for AAA Mid-Atlantic.
Mr. Townsend cited a AAA analysis of 50 traffic deaths over a fixed period in the Washington area that found only 2 that possibly involved cellphone use. "In the cosmic scheme of things, it's not just the cellphone," he said. "We would not come right out and support a ban on hand-held cell phones. That's not the issue. The real issue is distracted drivers."
But the laws could be in response to people's fears rather than hard evidence, Mr. Townsend said. A survey by AAA Mid-Atlantic showed that 63 percent of motorists favored a ban on driving with hand-held cellphones (76 percent in Washington), with those favoring bans directed at new teenage drivers rising to 79 percent. Results of the survey, culled from 1,300 interviews in the Mid-Atlantic area in December 2003, also showed that 71 percent of drivers felt distracted using a cellphone.
But John Walls, the vice president of public affairs of CTIA, the Wireless Association, a trade organization representing wireless interests, said it was unfair and unnecessary to create hands-free laws.
"We question the need for a law singling out behavior that apparently is pretty far down the pecking order of accidents in the first place," Mr. Walls said. He cited statistics showing that before the New York law was enacted, fewer than one-hundredth of 1 percent of New York City accidents were related to cellphones.
But a spokesman for the New York Department of Motor Vehicles, Joseph Picchi, said that he thought the law was having an impact but that the department was still compiling statistics. A report is due by the end of 2005.
Mr. Picchi pointed out that the law requiring seat belts in automobiles had taken years to catch on but now had a compliance rate of 85 percent.
"Cellphones are one of the bigger distractions while driving," Mr. Picchi said.
Lt. Byron Hope, traffic safety coordinator for the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, said that it was too early to judge the effectiveness of the ordinance, but that it made people aware of their driving habits.
"There had to be some instances where people's driving was so bad that this law was sparked," Lieutenant Hope said. "We're not saying you can't talk on your cellphone. We just ask people to use some discretion."
01-18-05 07:16 EST
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