It's time for Nevada to make the call on cell-phone regulation

One of the best things the State of New York has done in the past five years is regulate the use of cellular phones by drivers of moving vehicles. I wish the State of Nevada would do the same. Would it be an inconvenience? Sure. But would it be a life saver? Questionably.

Think about it. The next time you're driving and you reach for your cell phone, take into account the time and diverted attention devoted to pressing down on numbers on the key pad, listening to the voice on the line, talking to that voice on the line, locating messages and responding to messages. The time spent is a lifetime in a flash. One micro-second is all it takes. Just one.

In a study conducted by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, cell phone use in moving vehicles by drivers causes 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries per year nationwide, which is 6 percent of the 42,000 people who die each year in auto accidents throughout the United States. It is probable that the actual number of fatalities and injuries caused by cell phone distraction may be higher, since not all cell phone involvement in auto accidents is conclusively identified on collision reports.

There are so many distractions on the road these days. Kids in the back seat and to the right of you, a grande (often hot) beverage at your side or maybe even in your hand as your other hand steers the wheel, changing the CD discs and song selection, and ... your cell phone. A real Cat-in-the-Hat juggling act on a unicycle. So many distractions. Oh yeah, I almost forgot: Lighting and putting out a cigarette, a cigar, or ... God help us ... a pipe. All are distractions. Serious ones. Each one can take your eyes off the road just long enough to send your auto body to the nearest metal graveyard. And you to yours.

Admittedly, I am guilty of the sins of paying too much attention to my cell phone and the CD player. For three years of my life while I was in my late 20s, I was also guilty of torching up and putting out cigarettes while driving in my car. In fact, one important lesson my driving instructor never taught me was how to remove a lit cigarette ash from your crotch while going over 60 mph.

Cell phones weren't commonplace then, but we had distractions. And what we didn't have as a distraction, we found a way to invent. Society will always invent the worst in order to make the best of what we have seem better.

But with cell phones, necessity has mothered a child that follows us everywhere.

It's a child that we just cannot live without. It's a child we spoil with excessive attention. It's a child whose ring-tone cries makes us rush to its side and hold it tightly against our faces, as we eagerly listen to what it has to say to us. And that's the danger. This hand-size audio-tech baby causes us to sway eyes from the road, and swerve cars off the road.

Add this to the wreckage: Alcohol and drugs. Mainly alcohol.

We live in a state where alcohol is for sale in grocery stores, convenience stores, and even drug stores. You can also drink all hours of the day and night in casinos. After a few drinks, your cell phone becomes a hand grenade with the activating pin removed.

Believe me, many drivers today don't need the help to make their driving worse.

We have taken a vital emergency communication instrument and abused its usefulness with over-the-top conversation colitis. We've abused it like a drug. And as with any substance abuse, prohibition and rehabilitation are now in order. In this case, abolition of cell phone usage in moving vehicles by drivers.

I'd like to see our state leaders enact legislation to regulate the use of cell phones by drivers. To me, this is no different than the requirement of safety belts. It can be argued that outlawing cell phone use will actually prevent some auto accidents before seat belts can serve their purpose, at which point the abolition of cell phone use becomes just as important as the requirement of safety belts.



• John DiMambro is publisher of the Nevada Appeal. Write to him at jdimambro@nevadaappeal.com.