DOT: Freedom of speech is of no concern

So the question that comes to mind is, does freedom of speech extend to talking in your car? On a phone in your car? Texting (writing) in a car? Iowa limits texting by teens, but I’m not sure if you can limit adults talking but it might be possible to make a law to limit a devices use, but enforcement will be a completely different issue, especially with hands-free devices.

The Dept of Transportation has different ideas:

“U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he believes motorists are distracted by any use of mobile phones while driving, including hands-free calls, as his department begins research that may lead him to push for a ban.

“I don’t want people talking on phones, having them up to their ear or texting while they’re driving,” LaHood said in an interview this week. “We need a lot better research on other distractions,” including Bluetooth-enabled hands-free calls and the in-car systems”

LaHood began campaigning last year to limit driver distractions that he says caused 5,474 deaths in 2009 and accounted for 16 percent of all road fatalities. The total was a 6 percent decline from 5,838 in 2008.” (Bloomberg.com)

However, earlier this year a report came to the opposite conclusion that they made no difference in accidents, and in one report actually increased after the ban went into place.

"Whatever the reason, the key finding is that crashes aren't going down where hand-held phone use has been banned," Lund points out. "This finding doesn't auger well for any safety payoff from all the new laws that ban phone use and texting while driving." (iihs.org)

Deaths are going to occur when there is life, you can only tell people what to do but ultimately they have to come to the right conclusions. A trillion minutes are used in the US for talking on mobile phones and a lot of it is in the car, checking on kids, making business deals or being told to pick up milk on the way home. This ship has sailed, they are already being integrated into the auto itself and other items like hearing aids. Phones are part of our life and one day might be surgically attached to us.