Some Still Deny Cellphones are Dangerous for Drivers

Yet another report on cellphone-talking drivers, this one also arguing that hands-free kits are no safer than pasting a phone to your ear.

More surprising are bloggers who still try to deny the danger. David Sims at TMCNet, for one, leans on an eight-year-old study that showed cellphones involved in fewer accidents than other distractions in a car. Less than drinking, eating, other occupants or adjusting the audio:

Catch that? Talking on cell phones is one of the least distracting activities one can do in a car. Go tell that to the useless busybodies agitating to ban it. By any common sense standards they’d be far more useful seeking laws banning passengers, eating and drinking and CD players in cars, but such people are rarely motivated by common sense.

It's daft to cite an old study in this debate. Wireless subscriptions have more than doubled since that study, the American Automobile Association points out. We also talk three times as much on phones as we did then. And the AAA cites other studies that, in fact, show cellphones to be the most dangerous distraction.

Maybe a law isn't the right answer. But denying the danger is a potentially tragic answer.

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