In-Vehicle Cell Phones: Fatal Distraction—Yes or No?

Debate in the popular press regarding the issue of cell phone use on American roadways is extremely prevalent, highly vituperative, and almost completely devoid of actual hard data on the problem itself. Editorials are rife with emotionally-charged personal accounts of tragedies or near-tragedies, but suspiciously empty of any facts regarding the issues involved or experimental evidence supporting the positions they adopt. The resulting general consensus in the public mind is that these products are a dangerous national problem and that something must be done about them. The rash of legislation proposing various types of quick fix is proof that lawmakers are being crowded into a position that something must be done about this “problem”, though the real data surrounding this issue is mixed at best. This paper attempts to place the problem in its proper perspective using publicly available facts and figures in an attempt to support an alternative solution.