Nationwide Cell Phone Ban for Drivers Urged

A 1997 study in the New England Journal of Medicine and a report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in 2005 found drivers who use cell phones while driving were four times more likely to be in a crash.

Hands-free devices may also cause a hazard, Froetscher added. A study by researchers at the University of Utah found no difference in driver concentration between using hand-held or hands-free devices. In fact, talking to a passenger while driving is much safer than talking on a cell phone, the Utah researchers noted.

In addition, a Virginia Tech study found that 80 percent of crashes result from driver inattention.

More than 100 million people use cell phones while driving, the University of Utah researchers estimated. A poll conducted by the Nationwide Insurance Company found that that 81 percent of those surveyed admitted to talking on a cell phone while driving.

"It will take legislation, enforcement, and lots of education to eventually change this," said Dr. Gavin Melmed, an internist at Baylor University Medical Center in Waco, Tex., who has researched and written extensively on the dangers of cell phone use while driving.

"Once we have added the use of a cell phone while driving to the list of other unacceptable behaviors, such as driving drunk, driving without a seatbelt and having kids on our laps, we will look back and wonder how we could have been so reckless," he said.

"I think people have a vague sense they are doing something risky when they use a cell phone while driving," Melmed added, "but they do it anyway because of the perceived convenience and the lack of accountability."

Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University, agreed that bans on using cell phones while driving were needed, but for him --as with most people -- it will be tough to change a habit that has become so ingrained.

"As a public health practitioner, I routinely invoke the notion that epidemiology should trump ideology when it comes to public health policy," Katz said. "But I confess a ban on all use of cell phones while driving is a tough one for me. I can't imagine that long drive to give a talk without several calls scheduled along the way on my hands-free system."

But the evidence seems rather strong that such a ban would help reduce crashes, and injuries, Katz added.

"Having been distracted from the road myself by calls or e-mail messages on more than one occasion, I find the concept compelling," he said.

More information

For more information on safe driving, visit the National Safety Council .

SOURCES: Janet Froetscher, president and chief executive officer, National Safety Council, Itasca, Ill.; David L. Katz, M.D., M.P.H., director, Prevention Research Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Gavin Melmed, M.D., Baylor University Medical Center, Waco, Texas