Chicago Weighs Cell Phone Driving Ban
C H I C A G O, Sept. 25 -- Verizon, the largest U.S.cellular telephone provider, said it broke with the industry today and agreed to support laws that would ban handheldcell phone use while driving, a practice blamed for deadlyaccidents.
New York-based Verizon Communications’ apparent change ofheart came as a committee of Chicago aldermen quickly postponed avote on a proposal to make the city the biggest U.S. municipalityyet to make it illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving.
“This is a rather subtle issue we’re dealing with here and wewant to get it right,” Alderman Burton Natarus said as he calledoff testimony on his proposal in front of the City Council’sTraffic and Safety Committee. The small town of Brooklyn Heights, Ohio, was the firstAmerican municipality to make it a traffic violation to drive witha cell phone glued to one’s ear — except in emergencies. Aboutfive other small municipalities have passed similar bans, though afew ordinances were later struck down by the courts.
The industry has been largely opposed to bans on cell phone usewhile driving, although it has promoted safety campaigns.
The Chicago ordinance would set a fine of $25 for a firstoffense and up to $100 if use of a cell phone was found to havecontributed to an accident.
Working Out the Kinks
The proposal would allow drivers to use “hands-free” cellulardevices, but Verizon representatives said that could contradict anIllinois law that bans the wearing of any type of earphones whiledriving.
Increasingly popular and relatively economical $15 to $20earplug attachments for cellular phones could not be worn underthat state law, Verizon spokeswoman Annette Jacobs said. Aspeaker/microphone system for a vehicle can cost $200 to $300.Jacobs said the company was hoping to avoid a confusing“patchwork” of municipal ordinances governing the issue.
She said Verizon, which has more than 25 million wirelesscustomers, would support repeal of the Illinois law governingearphones and then lobby for passage of a statewide ban onanything but hands-free cellular use by drivers. The companysuggested phasing in the law over three years to allow the marketto modernize and make hands-free devices even cheaper.
