Chicago DUI lawyer predicts new laws banning cell phone use while driving (even if it's hands-free)

This Chicago DUI lawyer has posted here, here, and here about distracted driving. Now comes news, from the Secretary of Transportation no less, suggesting it's time to banned talking on phones and driving, even if it is hands-free.

From Fast Lane:

A new study out today irresponsibly suggests that laws banning cell phone use while driving have zero effect on the number of crashes on our nation’s roadways.

At this early stage in our work against distracted driving, no one should be discouraging strong nationwide efforts to make our roadways safer. When it comes to distracted driving, we are only at the starting gate.

If anything, the study suggests we need even tougher protections. Adrian Lund, president of both the HLDI and IIHS, said, "Drivers in jurisdictions with such bans may be switching to hands-free phones because no U.S. state currently bans all drivers from using such phones." But, he wisely cautions, "We know that people talking hands-free are really not much safer than people talking on handhelds."

From CSMonitor.com:

Here's a shocker: That Bluetooth appendage in your ear isn't doing anything to make you safer. This comes from the Highway Loss Data Institute, which studies such things. More precisely, its study found that crash rates in places with bans in place – California, Connecticut, New York, and Washington D.C. – stayed the same when those bans were implemented.

"The laws aren’t reducing crashes, even though we know that such laws have reduced hand-held phone use, and several studies have established that phoning while driving increases crash risk," said Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and HLDI president Adrian Lund in a press briefing.

The National Safety Council earlier this month found that one in four US car crashes involves cell phone distraction. At the start of this year, Illinois joined the list of states that have banned texting behind the wheel, but with these new findings, are such laws enough? Digital distraction behind the wheel has been called a safety epidemic – should bans go all the way and ban all in-car cell phone use?

Oh-no! I suspect the cell phone industry is about to start lobbying Congress to avoid the ban of cell phones while driving.