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Assemblyman Takes On Issue of Driving While Distracted
By Laylan Connelly
After being rear ended by a driver on a cell phone four years ago, Assemblyman George Nakano felt it was finally time to propose a law that would determine if driving with cell phones was dangerous.
"It is just my own personal observation, that a driver might be weaving on the road and you notice they are on the cell phone." Nakano said. "Over the past few years it has gotten worse."
Nakano introduced a bill in January requiring the California Highway Patrol and all law enforcement agencies to do a comprehensive study on the results of driving while using cell phones. According to Nakano’s chief of staff, it is the first bill proposing a study in California and will be completed by April of 2002. The bill requires Caltrans, to report to the Legislature and the governor by December 31, 2002 on the issue of motorist use of cellular phones.
"Basically what Nakano’s bill does is it orders the CHP to collect data to see if cell phones are the cause of driver distraction," said Becky Ames, Nakano’s chief of staff. "The study will be done within a year. At this point there is no quantitative data anywhere. Nakano’s position is that we need to study this before we pass the law."
Assemblyman Joe Simitian is also proposing a related bill that would outlaw the use of cell phones unless using a hand free device. Simitian’s proposal, if passed, will not take effect until 2005, and has yet to pass the transportation committee.
According to Ames, California, along with most states, has a law about driver distractions, but nothing specifically about cell phones.
"You don’t have to do a study, but you want to make sure you make a good public decision," Ames said. "Cell phone surveys are very contradictory. Some studies say that eating or putting in a CD is just as much of a distraction, but the whole point is the cognitive distraction, not the hands off the wheel."
Ames said Nakano is not trying to completely rid cell phone use while driving, but to collect data on the issue.
"We’re not saying it needs to be outlawed, but we need to know if quantitatively it is a problem," Ames said.
Marty Friedman, a retired Manhattan Beach resident, believes from personal experiences that cell phone use while driving is distracting. He has twice narrowly avoided being hit by drivers who were talking on their cell phones.
After sending a letter to the Manhattan Beach police chief, Friedman is discouraged and does not think the city has the power to do anything about drivers with cell phones. He said he would like to see a law passed that restricts talking on a cell phone while driving.
Manhattan Beach City Attorney Robert Wadden said the city does not have the authority to pass a law regarding cell phone use. He said only the state has that authority.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published a poll in May of 2000, documenting participant’s thoughts about the use of cell phones while driving. According to the study, 75 percent of participants felt that talking on cell phones while driving was a generally unsafe practice and 64 percent felt it was never safe to use a cell phone while driving.
Seven other countries-including England, Switzerland, Spain, Australia, Israel, Italy and the Republic of Singapore —currently have restrictions or prohibit cell phones while driving a motor vehicle, according to the National Conference of State Legislature Transportation Reviews.
In the U.S. there are 40 other states considering 100 bills, Ames said.
Nakano’s proposed study would not take effect until the bill passes into law in January 2002. However it has been approved by the assembly’s transportation committee.
Ames believes that Manhattan Beach residents would be pleased with passing a cell phone while driving bill.
"Manhattan Beach is a community that is strong about community safety," Ames said.
Friedman, however, believes that people will not admit to being distracted by their cell phones.
"Everyone you talk to, they say the same thing. They say that more people are distracted by eating while driving. People won’t say they were chatting on their phones-they will drop it in their handbags and play dumb," Friedman said. "Before a 5-year-old gets hit and there is a big story in the paper, we should do something about this." ER