In One Ear, Out The Other For D.C. Drivers
The District of Columbia has banned using a cell phone in most instances while driving for almost two years now, and in 2005 law enforcement wrote 6,018 tickets. However, by all accounts many drivers in D.C. still drive while gabbing away on their mobile devices, steering through the city’s circuitous streets, and some residents are upset about it.
In January 2006, law enforcement issued 370 tickets, and D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey says police officers are enforcing the law, but that once in a while higher-level crimes take priority.
The AAA driving organization recommends drivers use cell phones while driving for emergencies only, and today 25 state legislatures are considering laws to place restrictions on driving while using a cell phone. Insurance industry studies report that D.C. drivers’ use of cell phones has declined from 6.1 percent to 3.5 percent since the cell phone law.
Though only a few studies have been conducted to measure the correlation between cell phone use and car accidents, most would agree that cell phone dialing and use is more distracting than changing a CD in the car, for instance, and numerous studies demonstrate that driver distraction is a top cause of U.S. accidents.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Washington Post (03/03/06) P. A1; Pressley, Sue Anne; Helderman, Rosalind S.
