Driving Wireless Safety

Is the industry doing enough to educate consumers and steer public policy?

If you drive into Brooklyn, OH, you'd better put away your wireless phone. The first thing you'll see at the city limits of this town with a population of 11,000 is a road sign that says, "Park 2 Talk. It's the Law."

In 1999, Brooklyn was the first U.S. municipality to ban the use of wireless phones while driving, a law created after a city employee changing a tire was nearly hit by a driver talking on a cellular phone.

After accidents and deaths, a few other small towns have followed Brooklyn's lead. Even big cities such as Chicago have considered a ban on drivers' use of wireless phones.

Recent studies have shown that using a wireless phone while driving can increase accident risks - by up to 300% - when people talk and drive. For example, a 1997 New England Journal of Medicine study revealed that drivers who talked on a wireless phone were four times more likely to have an accident - the same risk as a driver with a .10 blood-alcohol level.

A National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) report of 1998 crash data showed that 85% of all wireless customers use their phones while driving, and driver distraction was a factor in one of every four fatal accidents.

As a result of all the data, the NHTSA last summer publicly warned drivers not to use cellular phones. Since 1995, 37 states have considered laws on cellular-phone use in cars. Only California, Florida and Massachusetts have imposed any restrictions, and no states have banned wireless-phone use while driving.

But as more cities and states consider restricting or even banning talking and driving, the wireless industry has to work harder to educate the public, encourage subscribers to be responsible and steer public policy.

The industry says that, unlike other activities drivers engage in talking on, a wireless phone is the only thing that can save lives. In 1999, in fact, more than 118,000 calls were made to 911 each day from wireless phones.

"Drivers partake in a number of different activities while behind the wheel, and we don't feel the wireless industry should be singled out because there is a real driver-distraction problem out there," said Dee Yankoskie, CTIA manager of wireless education programs. "We feel it would be a shame to remove the greatest safety tool since the creation of 911."

Promoting Responsibility

A 2000 study by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, funded by AT&T Wireless, found that the risk of a passenger, another motorist or pedestrian being killed by a driver using a wireless phone is 1.5-in-1 million annually - 92% less than the risk of being killed by a drunk driver. In comparison, drivers have a 17.6-in-1 million chance of being killed by a drunk driver.

Wireless-phone use, the study said, improves peace of mind and the ability to contact emergency services, and reduces response times. Researchers suggested that before governments regulate drivers' wireless-phone use, better quantitative information should be collected.

But the industry is acting now to educate subscribers and work toward reasonable ordinances. Verizon Wireless' Responsible Driver Action plan includes offering hands-free devices at reduced prices, incorporating its driver safety message in all advertising, training sales and customer-care teams to promote hands-free devices, requiring manufacturers to provide only phones with hands-free capabilities and, in certain cases, supporting legislation at the state level to require the use of hands-free devices.

"Our price points start at under $15, and that is because we are absolutely committed to getting hands-free devices (to our customers)," said Jeffrey Nelson, Verizon Wireless spokesperson.

As part of its education effort, CTIA has created a safety-awareness campaign on its Web site and a toll-free number (1-888-901-SAFE) for consumers.

According to Yankoskie, carriers to date have sent out 65 million bill stuffers, printed more than 20 million educational brochures and installed more than 271,000 safety displays in retail stores.

She said 100% of handset manufacturers are including safety information in handset boxes, but to be CTIA-certified, phones now must be hands-free capable and "safety, your most important call," must pop up as a text message when consumers turn them on.

Steering Legislation

Increasingly, carriers are defining their public policies and asking themselves if and when to enter the legislative arena to defend drivers' wireless-phone use.

"As a company, we can support statewide legislation that would require the use of hands-free devices," Nelson said. "In order for us to support statewide legislation, it would have to be in a state that has both the public support and political will to take this step."

Verizon first supported hands-free legislation at the state level in Illinois to answer Chicago's proposed hands-free ordinance. Although Nelson said Verizon considers all legislation on a case-by-case basis, in cases such as the one in Illinois, it will only consider supporting statewide legislation that requires wireless customers to use hands-free equipment while driving if: E-911 calls are exempted from penalty; the headset requirement is phased in over a reasonable period of time so users can upgrade to hands-free equipment; and the penalty for not using a headset is equal to penalties for other driver distractions.

"We are opposed to any kind of local ordinance on this issue because what we'll end up with is a crazy patchwork of different ordinances throughout the country that frankly will serve to confuse drivers rather than help them," Nelson said.

Currently, only a few states, including Minnesota and Oklahoma, require law-enforcement officials to indicate on accident reports that the use of a wireless phone contributed to an accident. The NHTSA has encouraged all state and local officials to begin tracking cellular-phone use in related traffic warnings, citations, and crash investigations.

For now, education seems to be most important.

"Our goal is to provide the tools that will allow wireless phone users to be as responsible as they can be behind the wheel," Nelson said.

It's the Law

Since 1995, 37 states have considered laws on wireless-phone use in cars. Currently, no state bans the use of wireless phones in vehicles, and only three have laws limiting wireless-phone use while driving. Massachusetts requires drivers using wireless phones to have one hand on the wheel at all times. Florida bans the use of headsets, and drivers talking on wireless phones must have one ear uncovered at all times. California requires that written safety materials on wireless-phone use be included with all rental cars.

Countries that ban using a wireless phone while driving
Portugal

Countries that ban using a wireless phone while driving except with a hands-free device
Austria
Denmark
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Italy
Poland
Romania
Slovenia
Spain
Switzerland
Turkey

Countries where wireless-phone use is allowed, but drivers are fined if they are found to have been distracted by the devices
Czech Republic
France
Netherlands
United Kingdom