They want drivers to hang up for good

A national safety group is advocating a total ban on cellphone use while driving, saying the practice is clearly dangerous and leads to fatalities.

States should ban drivers from using hand-held and hands-free cellphones, and businesses should prohibit employees from using cellphones while driving on the job, the congressionally chartered National Safety Council says, taking those positions for the first time.

The group’s president and chief executive, Janet Froetscher, likened talking on cellphones to drunk driving, saying cellphone use increases the risk of a crash fourfold.

“When our friends have been drinking, we take the car keys away. It’s time to take the cellphone away,” Froetscher said in an interview.

No state bans all cellphone use while driving. Six states -- California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Utah and Washington -- and the District of Columbia ban the use of hand-held cellphones behind the wheel, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Also, 17 states and the District of Columbia restrict or ban cellphone use by novice drivers.

Council officials acknowledged that a total ban could take years.

“Public awareness and the laws haven’t caught up with what the scientists are telling us,” Froetscher said. “There is no dispute that driving while talking on your cellphone, or texting while driving, is dangerous.”

Froetscher said the council examined more than 50 scientific studies before reaching its decision. One was a study by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis that estimates 6% of vehicle crashes, causing about 2,600 deaths and 12,000 serious injuries a year, are attributable to cellphone use.

Hands-free cellphones are just as risky as hand-held phones, she added.

“It’s not just what you’re doing with your hands -- it’s that your head is in the conversation and so your eyes are not on the road,” Froetscher said.

John Walls, vice president of CTIA-The Wireless Assn., a cellphone trade group, objected to a complete ban. He said there were many instances where the ability to make a phone call while driving helped protect safety.

“We think that you can sensibly and safely use a cellphone to make a brief call,” Walls said.

What makes cellphone use distinct from other risky driving behaviors, Froetscher said, is the magnitude -- there are 270 million cellphone users in the U.S. and 80% of them talk on the phone while driving.