Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Cell phone ban clears N.J. panel- Nextel Communications lobbyist Maureen Kehoe Rothfelder Whines- It would be unfair to single out cell phones....

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 18:58:58 -0500

Posted on Fri, Dec. 12, 2003

Cell phone ban clears N.J. panel- Nextel Communications lobbyist Maureen Kehoe
Rothfelder Whines- It would be unfair to single out cell phones.......

Cell phone ban clears N.J. panel, heads to Assembly
By Mitch Lipka
Inquirer Trenton Bureau

TRENTON - New Jersey soon may join New York as the only states banning the use
of handheld cell phones in cars.
The Assembly Transportation Committee yesterday unanimously approved a bill
backed by Gov. McGreevey that prohibits talking on cell phones in cars unless
they are used with hands-free devices.  The bill already cleared the Senate and
is scheduled to be considered by the full Assembly on Monday.

"There's no doubt that a ban on handheld cell phones - requiring drivers to keep
both hands on the wheel - will save lives," McGreevey said in a statement. "I'm
encouraged by the progress in the Legislature and look forward to signing a ban
into law."
Neither dialing a cell phone nor answering one is prohibited - only talking
without a hands-free device. Yet some maintain that the conversation itself
isn't what's dangerous.

"The problem is dialing, not talking," said Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D.,
Mercer), who abstained from voting on the bill.
An exception to the bill permits motorists to use a handheld phone in an
emergency.

If adopted, the New Jersey measure would not be as tough as the law New York
enacted in 2001. If a police officer in New York spots someone using a handheld
cell phone, the motorist can be pulled over and issued a $100 ticket. About
141,000 were issued between December 2001 and August 2003.

A study of driver behavior in New York showed a sharp drop in the use of
handheld phones immediately after the law went into effect. But a year later,
the study found, use had returned to nearly its pre-law level.

New Jersey legislators want violators cited for using a handheld cell phone only
if they are stopped for some other violation, such as running a stop sign or
speeding. Fines would range from $100 to $250, with no points assessed on a
driver's record.
Legislators said that making the violation a so-called secondary offense would
uphold their intent of only punishing those who create a problem by allowing
their phones to distract them.

AAA New Jersey and most wireless phone companies took issue with the proposed
ban in New Jersey, telling legislators that it did not make sense to focus on a
single driver distraction when there are so many.

"You're only addressing a very small part of the problem," cautioned Pamela
Fischer of the AAA New Jersey Automobile Club.  "If we simply put a Band-Aid on
this by saying we should ban handheld cell phones, are we really improving
safety?"
Nextel Communications lobbyist Maureen Kehoe Rothfelder said it would be unfair
to single out cell phones, using the example of someone being permitted to type
into a handheld wireless computer but not speak into handheld phone.

Between 20 percent and 30 percent of traffic accidents have been attributed to
some form of driver distraction. The limited data that specifically breaks out
cell phones as a category of distraction shows they account for only about 1
percent of all accidents.

Some legislators have been trying to pass a bill that touches on driver
distractions in general rather than just cell phones. The Transportation
Committee yesterday also gave its approval to a bill that would result in a
citation if a motorist was found to be distracted to the point of posing a
hazard to people or property.

An earlier version of that bill that spelled out the distractions - including
eating food and applying makeup - promptly fell out of favor after the details
were widely publicized.
Only Oregon has a law on the books that allows police to pull over someone for
driving while distracted.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/7471587.htm

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