The National Transportation Board Votes to Ban Cell Phone Use COMPLETELY While Driving

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The National Transportation Board doesn’t want you calling or texting behind the wheel and has called on states to ban the use of cellphone and other gadgets while driving COMPLETELY.

A recent study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found “at any given time during daylight hours, as many as 13.5 million people are fiddling with a phone when they should be driving,” (Wired.com).

The recommendation came after a unanimous vote by the five-member board concluded. “The board’s decision was spurred by a massive pileup near Gray Summit, Missouri, that killed two people and injured 38 others on Aug. 5, 2010. It was caused by a 19-year-old-pickup driver who sent or received 11 texts in the 11 minutes immediately before the crash,” (Wired.com). 

The ban would apply to ALL handheld and hands-free devices used by drivers of any and all vehicles on the road. 

The National Highway Safety Administration said “3,092 roadway fatalities in 2010 involved distracted drivers, although the actual number may be higher,” and board member Robert Sumwalt called distracted riving “the new DUI,” (Wired.com).

Automobiles aren’t the only locomotives with distracted drivers. “The board has in recent years investigated a deadly commuter rail accident in California, a fatal tugboat accident in Philadelphia and a Northwest Airlines flight that overshot its destination by more than 100 miles. In every case, the people who should have been operating the machinery instead had their eyes glued to a gadget,” (Wired.com).

Roughly two out of 10 American drivers, and half of those between 21 and 24, admit sending texts or e-mails from behind the wheel, according to an NTSB survey of more than 6,000 drivers.

What do you think of the ban? How would it affect your life? Tell us on the Traffic Ticket Nassau County Facebook Wall linked HERE.