Cellphone driving ban: nobody's listening

Jim Kenzie

There's "doing something."

Then there's `trying to make it look like you're doing something'.

That's the difference between leadership and, well, playing politics.

This past Wednesday afternoon, the Ontario Legislature – every man Jack/woman Jill a politician – tried to make it look like they were doing something.

They passed a law banning hand-held cellphones while driving. It goes into effect sometime this fall; conviction will result in a fine, but no demerit points.

Every conscientious driver has stories about cellphone-wielding drivers who should be put in a cell. My favourite was a woman northbound on Yonge St. near Sheppard, blonde ponytail sticking out through her pink baseball cap, obliviously piloting her white Porsche Cayenne right through a long red traffic light, chatting away.

Research suggests that driving while talking on a cellphone is approximately equivalent to driving drunk.

Two very interesting corollary results of this research:

First, there's little if any difference between driving/talking hand-held versus hands-free.

Sure, you're a better driver with two hands on the wheel, and when you're not glancing down at your dial pad punching out numbers or, God help us all, texting or Twittering.

But bad driving due to cellphone use is not about deterioration of the driving task caused by reduced manual dexterity; the issue is primarily mental disengagement from the driving task.

Second: you don't get instantly sober when you hang up. The deterioration can last for upwards of 15 minutes.

This again suggests the issue is mental, not physical. Your mind is simply somewhere else.

So this new law won't even begin to address the real issue. Is it better than nothing? Probably not.

Why? Won't it at least reduce whatever danger the manual dexterity component does add to the mix? Maybe.

But there are only so many resources we are prepared to allocate to any policy issue – traffic safety, or otherwise. By that I mean not only police and judicial system resources – every cellphone perp they run probably means a drunk they missed.

There's also the psychological resources each of us (not to mention our politicians) is prepared to devote to it.

"Cellphones? We dealt with that. Next issue.''

Which is why it's important to take the correct steps. Which this bill clearly does not.

What should be done about this issue?

We could do what some jurisdictions have done – simply make it illegal to operate any communications device, hand-held or hands-free. Manitoba is headed in that direction in the near future; Quebec, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia already have hand-held bans.

Banning all cellphones, of course, would be politically unpopular, not to mention difficult to enforce. How is the police officer supposed to know whether you're talking on your Bluetooth, or just singing along to the radio?

Second, if you ban all cellphones, how big a step is it to ban use of car radios, CD players, iPods, and the like?

That's not gonna happen. Education might help.

But Larry Burns, vice-president of research and development for General Motors, has noted that many young people don't see operating communications devices as interfering with the driving task; they view driving as interfering with the communications task.

If he's right, we have a much larger problem to deal with, one which will need new and better technology to alleviate.

A problem that means that this bill is a complete waste of time.

jim@jimkenzie.com

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