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American Morning
New York Lawmakers Expected to Pass Ban on Cell Phone Use While Driving
Aired June 25, 2001 - 09:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A cell phone crackdown in New York state is targeting drivers holding the wheel and a phone at the same time. Lawmakers today are expected to pass a ban on using handheld cell phones while driving.
Our Jason Carroll has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The movement to ban handheld cell phones in New York began on 4th Avenue in Brooklyn. And that's where, back in 1996, Felix Ortiz saw an accident. A woman had just crashed into a pole, a minor local accident that would inspire a major change in state law.
FELIX ORTIZ, N.Y. STATE ASSEMBLY: And I asked, "Are you drunk?" And the person said to me, "I am not drunk. It was because of this cell phone."
CARROLL: The state assemblyman sponsored a bill to ban the use of handheld cell phones while driving. Governor George Pataki has said he would sign the bill, making New York the nation's first state to pass such a law.
GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK: We hope that people have enough respect for the law that they stop now because it is a danger; it is a distraction.
CARROLL: The April accident involving model Niki Taylor was the most publicized recent example. The driver later said his cell phone had distracted him. Taylor is still hospitalized.
Sharon Arnette (ph) has used her cell phone while commuting to work, but admits the ban is a necessary inconvenience.
SHARON ARNETTE, CELL PHONE USER: I think it's terrible, but I think it's needed.
CARROLL: The cell phone industry has spent millions on ads opposing a ban calling for education, not legislation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CELLULAR TELECOMMUNICATIONS & INTERNET ASSOCIATION AD) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ask yourself: Is this call necessary?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: This spot promotes hands-free phones, which are acceptable under New York's new law. But they are not acceptable to the AAA.
MANTILL WILLIAMS, AAA SPOKESMAN: So we need to be very clear that going from a handheld device to a hands-free device does not eliminate the danger of talking on a phone while driving.
CARROLL: Sales rep and avid hands-free user Joanne Isaan (ph) explains why.
JOANNE ISAAN, SALES REPRESENTATIVE: It's not going to make that much of a difference.
CARROLL (on camera): It's still a distraction.
JOANNE: Still a distraction. Your cell phone is a distraction in the car no matter what.
CARROLL (voice-over): Even Ortiz would like to see a total ban on cell phone use in cars, but he said that legislation would not have passed. And his bill, at least, heads in the direction.
ORTIZ: It's a public-safety, quality-of-life type of legislation that we must pursue.
CARROLL (on camera): New York's law goes into effect this December. At least two dozen other states are considering similar legislation. And Congress is considering a nationwide ban as well.
Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Well, as Jason said in his report, AAA thinks the New York law is too weak and that hands-free cell phones should also be banned while driving.
Joining us to talk about that is the spokesman that we saw in that report Mantill Williams of AAA.
Good morning, how are you?
WILLIAMS: Good morning, how you doing?
HARRIS: I'm glad to have you with us this morning.
Can you explain what is it about these phones, period? I mean why is it that hands-free phones would still be considered a danger?
WILLIAMS: Well, at AAA we strongly recommend that regardless of what the law is, motorists should not talk on a phone and drive at the same time whether it's a hands-free device or a handheld device because talking on a phone and driving is a very dangerous distraction. And it really isn't the device; it really is the intellectual distraction of the conversation itself. So we recommend to people -- we tell them that hands-free is not risk free. The hands-free feature is not a safety device; it's merely just a convenience device.
HARRIS: Well, let's let -- can you tell us whether or not there have been any studies done or whether AAA is aware of any figures that show that the -- when laws, like this one that we've just talked about, actually are in place, because there are laws like that in certain communities around the country just not in whole state areas, when those laws have been enacted, have they actually resulted in the decrease in accidents?
WILLIAMS: No, they have not. Preliminarily we've seen these laws go into effect but they've had almost zero effect on someone's behavior, they've had zero affect on someone's safety. Number one, it's an unenforceable law, and we know from research and experience any time you have an unenforceable law you definitely won't have any affect on safety, and all this law will do is put the phone out of sight so you don't' see it. It will not eliminate the danger of talking on the phone while driving.
HARRIS: Yes. The -- looking at some research here, this is from the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center and did a study on distracted driving. And they looked at all of the things that distract drivers, and their study shows that adjusting the climate controls actually causes more distractions than the phone almost by two to one. I mean you -- would you be -- you wouldn't, necessarily, be recommending that people not adjust their climate controls or the radio inside the car, would you?
WILLIAMS: No, absolutely not. We think this is an -- this is an issue to where you cannot pass a law that will make people pay attention and you cannot eliminate conversation through legislation. You cannot eliminate conversation -- the driving experience through legislation. So we think definitely we need to have education so that people can understand how to manage their distraction. We need to work with manufacturers so that we make these devices the least distracting as possible, and also, we need to do more research so that we understand this problem a little bit better.
HARRIS: So you don't think enough research has been done to this point?
WILLIAMS: No, absolutely not. I think we need a little bit more research because what we do know is that a hands-free device is not a safety device. When you go from a handheld device to a hands-free device, a few studies have shown that -- the "New England Journal of Medicine" study has shown that and a lot of people are holding up that study saying that that study says it's four times more likely that you'll get into an accident if you're driving with a cell phone, but they didn't really say a causation relationship with that.
So the studies we have out there now, for instance the one that you mentioned, it talked about the cell phone as 1.5 percent of all distracted driving crashes. So what we need to look at is distracted driving as a whole and look at the things that distract us and we need to look at that in the big picture sense.
HARRIS: And if -- and going back to that study, you might reduce -- you actually could stop and save more lives, I guess, if you got rid of the CD player than if you got rid of the telephone?
WILLIAMS: Yes, exactly right. I mean you get into the situation to where the number one distracter is outside objects and you can't pass a law that will stop people...
HARRIS: Yes.
WILLIAMS: ... from daydreaming or else focusing on something else. And you don't -- and you don't want to pass a law that will eliminate the radio because we know that the radio has some safety benefit and also the cell phone does have some safety benefit. So basically we need to focus on distracted driving as a whole. The cell phone is just one of many distracters...
HARRIS: Yes.
WILLIAMS: ... so this will have very little affect, if any at all. And as -- and a matter of fact, the current New York law for reckless and careless driving requires a 100 -- a $1,000 fine for a Class A misdemeanor. This law will only require a $100 fine. So the governor, in effect, will be signing a law that's actually weaker than the current New York law that actually deals with these type of activities.
HARRIS: You could probably hurt them more if you just took away their phone and gave them a can and some string.
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: Mantill Williams, thanks so much for your insight. We appreciate it.
WILLIAMS: Thank you.
HARRIS: Mantill Williams from AAA.
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