 "Photo: N/A")
 "Photo: Parker Timothy")
Before Utah's House Bill 95 was passed, I wrote an article addressing the issue of cell phone usage and driving. I said that it was dangerous and that something needed to be done about it. Utah Code 41-6a-1716 was passed this May, making text messaging while driving a class C misdemeanor.
The powers that be determined cell phone usage and driving is dangerous and they did something about it. So why am I still complaining?
In a nutshell--it isn’t enough.
Don’t get me wrong, the texting and driving ban is a step in the right direction, and every little bit helps. However, I am afraid the law is little more than a placebo, a bone tossed to those demanding a change.
My biggest gripe, and the one you’ve probably heard most often, is how unenforceable the law is. Sure, we’ve all heard about it way too much, but it’s true. If a police officer pulls me over for texting, he is going to have a difficult time proving that I wasn’t just dialing my grandmother.
The only way police can hope to seriously address the issue of driving and texting is to make all hand-held cell phone usage illegal. Otherwise, they will continue to be thwarted by smartass teenagers and of course, sage college students. However, bills that would have done just that were shot down in the same session.
It’s not as if Utah would really be a pioneer in this effort. Eleven other states hold a full or jurisdictional ban on all hand-held usage while operating a motor vehicle, including Washington, New York and California.
I know it’s unpopular. I admit that I use my cell phone for everything short of shaving, and being in a legal “dead zone” while I’m in my car would be a drag. But I’m sure that banning drinking while driving was unpopular decades ago.
In reality, the only downside to a cell phone-driving ban is minor inconvenience, and 41-6a-1716 states that texting and driving during a medical or any other type of emergency is perfectly legal. There is no reason that a law banning all cell phone usage would not include a similar provision. Any other conversation can wait, especially if it means that your driving might become impaired. If I can wait until I get home to drink my G&T, I can do the same for a telephone conversation.
A study released by U professors Frank Drews and David Strayer last year displayed that all cell phone usage distracts drivers, not just texting.
But I guess this is just the way that Utah laws work, like how I can buy beer but not gin in a grocery store. Alcohol is alcohol. So let’s call a spade a spade and do this the right way. If not, we might end up getting made fun of for more than just our kooky liquor laws.
