Distracted Driving: Preemption Again

Almost everyone has had a personal experience with distracted driving. I once came within a couple of feet of being hit by someone who drove through a red light at fairly high speed. Although my tires squealed when I hit the brakes, the driver was so busy talking on the phone that I don't think she even noticed what she had done. I don't have a cell phone, but I've found changing a CD while simultaneously dodging Pittsburgh traffic to be a challenge. I'm thinking of banning all conversation in the vehicle while I'm driving.

I mention this because, as of yesterday, texting while driving is illegal in Pennsylvania. It is punishable by a fine of $50 plus court costs, a total penalty of $136. However, dialing or talking on a hand-held cell phone is still legal. A ban on all hand-held cell phone use was in the original bill, but was removed prior to its passage. It is likely that the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA), the lobbying arm of the cell phone industry, was involved in weakening the bill. CTIA has agreed to bans on texting, but they insist that “education” is the solution to the problem of cell phone use by drivers. Would anyone like to take bets on how effective education will be in solving this problem?

There is general agreement that texting is the most dangerous form of communication while driving, since drivers typically take their eyes off the road for several seconds. However, the most extensive field study of distracted driving, conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, suggests that talking and listening to a cell phone are also associated with increased risk of a crash. Dr. Marcel Just of CMU has found that even listening with a hands-free reduces the brain activity associated with driving by one-third. Research using a driving simulator by David Strayer at the University of Utah finds that cell phone users are just as impaired as drunk drivers (with a .08% blood alcohol level), although their impairment occurs in different ways.

The texting ban will be difficult to enforce. While it's easy to see that someone is talking on the phone from a passing patrol car, it's harder to tell whether they are dialing or texting. One safety expert pointed out that texting is often done while holding the device in your lap, which is below the sightline of the officer. Drivers who appear to be texting may actually be playing with their genitals, which is perfectly legal.

However, the author of this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette news story may have buried the lead. If you manage to make your way to paragraph 23 of this 26-paragraph article, you will find that the new law preempts bans on hand-held cell phone use while driving in Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Erie, as well as any other towns that have or might consider cell-phone bans.

I've posted about the politics of preemption before. Lobbyists agree to weak statewide restrictions in exchange for the repeal of much stronger local laws. Consider this present case. Texting while driving is relatively rare and laws against it are not much of a deterrent because they are difficult to enforce. But cell phone use is common and laws against it are easy to enforce. If we think of this as a trade-off in which the bottom line is the amount of money Pennsylvanians spend on in-car telecommunications, the cell phone lobby may well have come out way ahead in this deal.

The losers will be those who are maimed or killed in distracted driving accidents. But that's a small price to pay for increased corporate profits.