Cellphone ban while driving won’t work

In a perfect world, nobody would use a cellphone while driving a car, except in emergencies. But in a nation where the number of cellphones (300 million) now outstrips even the number of vehicles (254 million), that's not going to happen.

Which is why this week's National Transportation Safety Board recommendation that every state ban all cellphone use while driving is simply unworkable.

When it comes to texting ― or other activities that take drivers' eyes off the road for more than a split second ― we're with the nation's top safety watchdog. Texting truck drivers are 23 times more likely to crash, according to a Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study.

In fact, the horrific crash that spurred the NTSB's recommendation involved a 19-year-old who had received or sent texts 11 times in the minutes preceding the accident that killed two and injured 38. Last month, Pennsylvania became the 35th state to forbid texting while driving. Our only question: What's taking the rest so long?

The far tougher issue is how to deal with the millions who use their phones to place or answer calls while driving.

Supporters of a ban ― nine states have already enacted one ― cite the 3,092 people who died last year in crashes caused by distracted driving. But that's misleading. Only a small portion ― 13 percent, to be exact ― involved calling or texting on cellphones. The vast majority involved other distractions, including things such as rowdy toddlers or pets, eating in the car, or rubbernecking at roadside accidents. Is it time to ban food in cars? Dogs? Children? Where do you draw the line?

Nor is it possible to overestimate how addicted Americans are to their cellphones. In a Transportation Department survey released this week, nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said talking on a handheld phone was ``very or somewhat unsafe." Yet 77 percent reported answering calls while driving, and 41 percent said they made calls.

If even people's own fear of danger won't prevent cellphone use, it's hard to imagine that bans will be more effective. Particularly when they will be a nightmare to enforce. Laws that are unenforceable (see: Prohibition) do not increase respect for the law or change attitudes.

We're not suggesting that yakking on the phone while driving doesn't increase crash risk. Just about every study says it does. Even using hands-free devices doesn't seem to make much difference; research shows the conversation itself distracts the driver's brain.

Perhaps with the rapid spread of smart phones, too many drivers will find it impossible to separate phone calls from obviously more hazardous activities such as texting, e-mailing, Web surfing, watching TV and playing Angry Birds. It's important to keep gathering the data about the involvement of phones in accidents. For now, though, efforts to outlaw dialing-while-driving will be about as effective as the alcohol-banning 18th Amendment, ratified in 1919 and repealed in 1933.

This article was published and distributed by USA Today.