NTSB Proposes Car Phone Ban; Drivers React
WEST SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — For the last two and a half years drivers have been legally required to use a hands-free devices while driving or risk being fined.
But now the National Transportation Safety Board says even using a Bluetooth device can be distracting.
But distracted driving comes in many forms. It's OK to eat while driving, and even read while driving. But talking with a cell phone to your ear is illegal. And now the NTSB wants states to get tougher. The board is recommending a nationwide ban on talking on the phone while driving, even if drivers are using a hands-free device.
"Interesting idea. I think it's a good idea," sad one woman CBS13 talked to on Tuesday night.
But another was skeptical.
"Hmm … good luck," she said, laughing.
The NTSB made the announcement Tuesday after investigating a deadly crash caused by a distracted driver using a cell phone.
In regarding distractions due to electronic devices, if we don't act now how many lives will we lose in the next 30 years? I don't think we can afford to wait an entire generation to change this," said NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt in Washington.
Since the hands-free law went into affect in California, the CHP says it's helped cut down on distracted drivers, but officers say even Bluetooth can keep a person from focusing on the road.
"I really do think that people are getting into heavy conversations you know whether it's an argument with a spouse or your kids are on the phone and you're having to pick them up and you're running late," said the CHP's Lizz Dutton.
But many drivers say if they can't talk safely on a hands-free device, they don't.
"I'll say I have to hang up and drive, even though I have a Bluetooth on," one woman said.
But not all follow the same practice, so in a world where technology meets the road, many drivers find it hard to imagine a life without the two together.
"I think that's way too far, too extreme," another woman said.
