Could Drivers Face Total Cell Phone Bans?

Dangers of Cell Phone Use on the Road

The National Safety Council said a study by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis estimated that cell phone use on the road contributes to 6 percent of all accidents and as many as 2,600 deaths per year.

In this file photo, a woman talks on her cell phone while driving in Los Angeles. The National Safety Council would like to see a ban on all cell phone use by drivers.

(AP Photo)

At least 17 states and the District of Columbia ban all cell phone use by first-time drivers, but no state forbids adults from using cell phones in cars. Five states -- California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Washington -- as well as the District of Columbia forbid all drivers from using hand-held cell phones.

So the council is starting at ground zero and admits it will be a tough sell.

"I think the hard part is many of us have grown used to using our cell phone on the road," Froetscher said. "And it's hard for us to give [it] up."

"It would be hard for me because I spend a lot of time in the car," said Sheri Dambrose today in Chicago, conceding that she thinks it would probably be safer to hang up. "If I'm not at work and I'm in the car driving kids from one place to another, trying to stay connected with the kids and see who needs a ride or who needs to be dropped off somewhere."

But an industry trade association thinks the council is going too far.

"There are some real-life scenarios where those are important phone calls that you need to make or take," said John Walls, spokesman for The Wireless Association, such as calling to say you'll be late to pick up a child at day care or a call from your teenager trying to reach you because the movie let out early.

"A sensible, a responsible and a brief phone call, we think, can be made and sometimes needs to be made in order for life's everyday challenges to be met," Walls said.

Walls also disputed the council's view that talking on a cell phone while driving is inherently dangerous, saying the overall number of highway accidents have declined, even as cell phone use has skyrocketed.

Even groups that support a cell phone ban in vehicles aren't sure that passing legislation will prove effective.

"I don't think outright bans are enforceable," said Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association. "That's the biggest problem. So what is the point of passing a law that you can't enforce?"

Harsha said she believes this is a "growing, pervasive, problem," but said, "It's an issue in search of a good countermeasure."

Some believe technology that will disable cell phones while in a moving vehicle will ultimately prove to be the answer. Another solution: persuading businesses to ban cell phone use while employees are driving on the job.

Companies are increasingly doing that. Oil giant ExxonMobil was in the forefront of this movement, and four years ago told all employees to stop making or taking cell phone calls while driving.