IN WAKE OF N.Y. LAW, MORE DRIVER DISTRACTION BILLS ARE EXPECTED

Forum, which is being held in conjunction with NCSL winter meeting this week, is evaluating draft report on driver distraction, with final document due in late Jan., said Wash. Sen. Tracey Eide, forum chairwoman. Areas of disagreement among stakeholders in project include whether hands-free use should be required and effect of technology on driver distraction. Areas of agreement include need for driver education, although she said not all participants agreed on effectiveness of education materials and what their content should be. While industry and govt. participants stressed need for cooperation, Eide was among state lawmakers who expressed frustration at extent to which industry in her state had opposed bills she had proposed that would restrict cellphone use in vehicles to hands-free devices and would call for changes in how accident data were collected. While several wireless industry officials argued that hands-free use didn’t offer complete solution to broader range of driving distractions, Eide countered: “But it would be one step.” Steve Skinner, dir.-external affairs for Cingular Wireless, said carrier recognized certain customers couldn’t handle distraction of driving and talking, particularly in certain roadway situations where road should command motorist’s full attention. But in response to Eide’s arguments, he said hands-free mandate could provide “false sense of security” to drivers by emphasizing just one source of potential distraction, rather than broader education.

While N.Y. decided to “jump off a cliff on this one,” Sprint’s Hinton said he hadn’t seen significant movement by other states to follow its lead. He said he hoped to see more state legislatures focus on educating consumers on driver distractions. While N.Y. has taken lead on hands-free requirement, he said, “unfortunately, they have not taken a lead on education consumers.” Ortiz said he didn’t oppose modification in N.Y. law that would include driver education component, but he criticized focus of some carriers on statistics that they said showed that cellphone use played relatively small role compared with other distraction sources in causing auto accidents. “I know how you can manipulate some of these numbers,” he said. After forum, he told us that criticism that his bill didn’t have adequate phase-in period was unfounded. He said it went into effect Nov. 1, but violators received only warnings that month. Fuller implementation began Dec. 1, although violators ticketed under law can have penalties waived if they show they have bought hands-free device between now and March, he said. Increased roadway checkpoints in N.Y. since Sept. 11 attacks also have helped with driver education because state troopers can raise issue in that context with drivers, he said. “They have served as a tool to make people aware,” he said. Since Dec. 1, 22 traffic violators have been ticketed under new law, he said. Ortiz said he was working for next session on bill that would bar drivers from dialing their phones in cars. He told us he also planned to introduce legislation that would impose stiffer penalties on drivers who caused accidents while using cellphones. Ortiz said he wanted penalties in such cases to match those for driving under influence of alcohol.

Several wireless carriers offered data that they said showed small percentage of accident reports that related directly to cellphone use. Cingular’s Skinner said that while wireless phone use had soared to 125 million in U.S., annual accident rates had remained steady at about 7-8 million per year. “We don’t maintain the wireless industry has kept the accident rate down,” he said. “We also don’t see a direct correlation between cellphone growth and accidents.” Citing American Automobile Assn. and U. of N.C. data, Skinner said that research showed about 25% of roadway accidents were caused by distracted driving. Those data indicated 1.5% of all accidents caused by driver distractions involved cellphone use, he said. That means about 0.375% of accidents involved cellphones, Skinner said. Legislation needs to be responsive to consumers while being “careful to separate fact from fantasy,” he said.

Several industry representatives emphasized their efforts in so-called “social marketing,” which targets consumer education on issues such as safe cellphone use. Chuck Eger, Motorola dir.-Office of Driver Safety, said equipment manufacturer had been involved in research on several fronts, including working with NHTSA since last year. In Phoenix, Motorola is developing simulator that uses sophisticated software to emulate driving under different conditions, he said. In area of hands-free accessories, Eger said “very, very soon” company would begin marketing Bluetooth-based hands-free system that provides wireless earpiece. Future products include driver advocate system that helps drivers monitor information while minimizing distractions, he said. That integrated system uses sensors to gather roadway, vehicle, driver and communications information, Eger said. Motorola said system helped to prioritize and manage information for drivers.

Utah Rep. Kory Holdaway, who moderated panel discussion, said he had changed his stance from his past sponsorship of legislation that would have permitted only hands-free use of cellphones by drivers. Bill would have been similar to N.Y. law, but ultimately didn’t pass. “I have since changed my idea related to the need or needs of driver focus,” he said. “The bigger issue goes to distraction and what a distraction is. Cellphones are certainly a contributing factor and probably a good percentage.”

Industry officials stressed they didn’t want cellphone use treated differently from other potential driver distractions, emphasizing need for better motorist education and accident reporting statistics. Sprint doesn’t back hands-free requirements, Hinton said, in part because: (1) Most states already have reckless driving laws on books that could be effective in curbing irresponsible cellphone use when enforced. If problem is that they aren’t being enforced, that issue needs to be addressed, he said. (2) Studies don’t back up mitigation effect of curbing cellphone use by drivers. Verizon Wireless stands apart from its competitors in backing hands-free legislation, but only under certain conditions, such as allowing consumers adequate phase-in period to purchase new equipment, Curran said. “One important thing we believe is that a wireless phone is a safety device -- it’s not always a hazard,” he said. To win full Verizon support, hands-free legislation also must allow cellphone use during emergencies and must be applied uniformly throughout state, he said. “One of the more critical issues is the standardization of the law at the state level so customers don’t have to worry about what town they are in,” Curran said.