Although New York state has so far acted alone in the US in banning drivers from using hand-held cellular telephones, many state legislatures are ready to rethink the issue next year, reflecting a sharpening debate over how much of a distraction and safety hazard the phones represent.
Flush with victory in New York and in more than two dozen local jurisdictions and armed with polls suggesting wide support, advocates of the bans say they will push for the laws when most legislatures return in January.
PHOTO: NY TIMES
But while the campaign will intensify the debate, whether it will lead to new laws is uncertain.
Measures to ban or restrict drivers' use of the hand-held phones were introduced in 43 states this year, a record, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But most were killed in committee before June, when New York's action added momentum to the movement.
Valuable precedent
"Once New York passed its ban, that lent a lot of credibility to the whole issue," said Representative Mark Miloscia, Democrat from Washington, who proposed a ban that died before New York acted. "I kept hearing, `Well, nobody else has done it, so we shouldn't be leading the way.' That's all changed now."
In many states, the measures stalled amid lobbying by the wireless phone industry and by other industries that depend on mobile phones. About 121 million cellular phones are in use in the US. Opponents of the bans say they will work just as hard next year.
"Those are some pretty strong lobbyists -- AT&T, Ameritech, Sprint, MCI," said state Representative Bob Bugielski of Illinois, a Democrat, who has tried to get his Legislature to pass a ban. "Realtors, too -- they were totally against it. For all of those agents, the car is their office."
And, Bugielski added: "A lot of the legislators themselves use these phones in their car. They certainly don't want to give that up."
Opponents of bans argue that restrictions would represent a draconian response to a limited problem and may pose serious safety problems as drivers pull off and onto roads to use the phones and still comply with the law.
Only one other state legislature, Rhode Island's, passed a comprehensive ban this year, but Governor Lincoln C. Almond, a Republican, vetoed it, saying the benefits of cell phones far outweighed their risks.
"Available statistics show that tuning a radio, eating, speaking to other people in the car, reaching for something within the vehicle, reading, writing and using the glove compartment have all been found to be more distracting to drivers than is the use of a cell phone," he said in his veto message.
Elsewhere, only a handful of restrictions were approved, most fairly limited.
Massachusetts, for instance, prohibited school bus drivers from using the phones on the job, except in emergencies; New Jersey prohibited people with learners' permits from talking on their phones while driving. Several states passed measures requiring traffic accident reports to include whether a cell phone might have been a factor, in effect putting off decisions on restrictions.
Opposite direction
Other states moved in the opposite direction. Oregon and Oklahoma voted to prohibit local authorities from banning the phones.
But the issue grows increasingly complicated. Almost all the proposed bans would allow drivers to use phones that did not have to be held. But some proponents of bans say that the use of all types of mobile phone should be prohibited.
Two major studies released in recent months have suggested that talking on hands-free technology, like speakerphones or with earpiece attachments, which the New York law allows, can be just as distracting.
And not all wireless companies oppose the bans on hand-held phones. Some see them as a potential marketing bonanza, since they would lead to sales of hands-free technology.
Several jurisdictions have passed the bans. These include Brookline, Massachusetts; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and several communities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties in New York passed their own measures, which led the state to enact a ban, effective on Nov. 1, with a one-month grace period.
Still, some opponents say the rapid development of hands-free technology will make such laws unnecessary.
"This is a problem that will be solved by technology and education, not legislation," said Connecticut Representative Michael Lawlor, a Democrat.
No evidence
While several studies have shown that cell phones can distract drivers, there is no consensus on whether they cause more accidents than other distractions while driving, like eating. But a few cases have attracted widespread attention, including a 1999 accident in suburban Philadelphia in which a 2-year-old girl, Morgan Lee Pena, was killed by a driver who ran a stop sign while talking on his phone.
Morgan's mother, Patricia Pena, established Advocates for Cell Phone Safety, a national group that favors bans and says it will press legislatures to act next year.
"Every single poll I've ever been able to see shows the public is clearly in favor of laws regulating the use of cellular telephones while driving," Pena said from her home in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. "Why does that not add up to support from our elected officials?"
She conceded that opponents had been a more powerful and cohesive lobbying force.
"I'm here in my dining room, feeding my 5-month-old sweet potatoes," Pena said. "I can't compare to the power of the telecommunications lobby."
Proponents say that in many cases, bills bottled up by legislative maneuvers would easily pass if brought to a vote.
The proposed ban that Lawlor criticized in Connecticut was approved by the House, 86-57, in May, but stalled in a Senate committee.
"If it got a fair hearing before the whole Senate, it would pass," said state Representative Richard Roy, a Democrat and the bill's chief sponsor. Even then, it would face the threat of a veto from Governor John Rowland, a Republican.
But Roy, whose sister was injured when her car was hit by a driver who was looking for a ringing cell phone, predicted that public pressure would lead to passage of his bill. He cited a poll in February by Quinnipiac University that found 85 percent of 1,262 registered voters in Connecticut supported a ban.
Second time lucky
In Washington state, the two main sponsors of a ban that similarly stalled, Miloscia and state Senator Tracey Eide, also a Democrat, said they planned to reintroduce their legislation next year.
In Rhode Island, the sponsor of the ban that was vetoed, Representative Peter Kilmartin, a Democrat and a police lieutenant in Pawtucket, his home city, said he would try again next year.
Natural selection
Dee Yankoskie, manager of wireless education programs for the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, a trade group for the wireless industry, said that all states already had statutes that allowed police officers to arrest someone who is driving in an erratic or a distracted manner, "whether they are talking on the telephone or eating a Big Mac."
"The real issue is inattentive driving," Yankoskie said. She said that the association had taken no official position on state legislation, but that in general the industry supported expanded data collection on accidents and an education program to teach drivers to use cell phones wisely.
Moreover, new technology is creating other problems for lawmakers to consider: Many automakers plan to install devices in new cars that can connect to e-mail and the Web. While virtually no one supports using those devices while driving, most of the proposed cell phone bans do not address such use.
"Like Prometheus' gift of fire, technological advances are usually double-edged swords," said Roy, the Connecticut legislator. "Cellular phones distract motorists from the serious business of driving."
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