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Mixed Signals in Hands-Free Phone Debate: A Bill Seeks to Ban Hand-Helds While Driving, but Some Experts Say More Study is Needed.

Posted on: Monday, 19 June 2006, 15:00 CDT

By Judy Lin, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

Jun. 19--Americans spent 1.7 trillion minutes on their cell phones last year. Although no one knows how many minutes were spent talking while driving, one state senator wants to make sure Californians keep both hands on the steering wheel.

"We know you're distracted. We know the risk has risen dramatically. Now the question is one of control," Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, told fellow lawmakers on the Senate floor in making his fifth attempt to ban the use of hand-held phones while driving.

His proposal, Senate Bill 1613, cleared the Senate last month and is expected to be vetted by the Assembly Transportation Committee in the coming weeks. If passed, drivers would face initial fines of $20, going up to $50 for subsequent offenses beginning in July 2008.

As California considers joining a growing number of states and cities imposing cell phone restrictions, there are conflicting reports on whether hands-free is safer than hand-held. New York, which was the first state to implement a ban back in 2001, has yet to complete a review of the law's impact.

While many studies have shown cell phone use is a common form of driver distraction, experts say there has been relatively little direct research comparing hands-free with hand-held devices.

And some wonder if talking on a cell phone isn't more distracting than the manner in which it is done.

There's no denying that more Americans than ever are using cell phones -- 207 million estimated subscribers at last count. And when they talk and drive, they are increasing their chances of getting into accidents.

In April, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute released findings that nearly 80 percent of crashes involved some form of driver inattention. The most common distraction reported was the use of cell phones, followed by drowsiness.

For now, some consider the restrictions an imperfect solution to the dangers posed by today's high-tech gadgets.

"Hands-free alone isn't necessarily the answer because the distraction can be the act of talking. Any soccer mom probably knows that," said Candysse Miller, executive director of the Insurance Information Network of California, a nonprofit consumer education group funded by the insurance industry.

"But it's certainly an improvement from holding a phone to your face."

The NHTSA study found that dialing on cell phones and similar devices increased the risk of a crash or near-crash by three times.

Meanwhile, talking or listening on the phone increased the driver's risk by only 1.3 times.

University of Utah psychologist David Strayer and his colleagues were among those to question the notion that hands-free cell phones are safer than hand-helds.

Their 2003 study showed that motorists suffer from "inattention blindness" because they are distracted by a cell phone conversation.

Such findings have prompted Sprint/Nextel to oppose SB 1613. Caroline Semerdjian, a spokeswoman for the company, said the bill doesn't consider features like Nextel's walkie-talkie feature known as "push-to-talk," which can't be used hands-free.

"Such laws are ineffective because they are difficult to enforce," wrote Semerdjian in an e-mail.

"(They are) unfair because they single out one distraction when many different distractions can lead to traffic accidents."

Simitian doesn't dispute that. However, he believes given the choice between using a hand-held and hands-free device, it's better to choose the latter.

Citing findings in a simulated driving study by the NHTSA, Simitian said drivers are less prone to weave back and forth, maintain more consistent speed and react faster to brake lights when they are on hands-free sets.

"You have almost three times as much time to react to an accident when you have your hands free at the wheel than you do clutching a foreign object to your ear," the senator said. "That's the difference between 2.1 seconds and 5.9 seconds."

He said Japan witnessed a 52 percent drop in the number of traffic accidents involving cell phones after imposing a hand-held ban.

The electronics industry, too, has grown sensitive to safety concerns, creating new tools from wireless headsets and speakerphone functions to voice-activated or one-touch dialing. These features and accessories are aimed at keeping a driver's hands on the wheel and the eyes on the road.

"When used properly, these products are great tools that help drivers focus on the road," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumers Electronics Association.

But Miller, of the insurance network, considers technology a double-edged sword. "While it helps you out, it's another button to push," she said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Sacramento Bee

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