ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 27, 1996 TAG: 9603270033
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
CELLULAR phones don't kill; people do.
Actually, it's not known whether anyone has ever been killed by a person armed with a cellular phone.
More often, in all probability, carrying a concealed cellular phone has saved lives. How many untold times, for example, has a good samaritan whipped out that comforting piece of technology and speed-dialed 911 after seeing an accident? Say, a pair of pedestrians, each talking on a wireless phone and not watching where they're going, colliding in midsentence.
The answer, clearly, is not more regulation of phones, but more education in their safe use.
To do nothing, on the other hand, is potentially to sit back and watch the spread of carnage on our streets and highways as the proliferation of cellular devices continues.
Earlier this month, a study concluded that drivers with cellular phones in their cars have about a third more accidents than people who don't.
The study suggested that a car-phone call can take a driver's mind off the business of driving, causing him or her to run red lights, etc.
The danger is compounded if the driver, already engrossed in a phone conversation, is attempting to do something else. Like prepare a letter for the in-auto fax machine, check a laptop computer for e-mail messages, drink hot coffee, or light a cigarette.
Citizens have a constitutional right to keep and bear car phones, of course, and this right shall not be infringed - no matter how many rear-enders the phone-owners may suffer or cause.
Still, with nearly 30 million people now using the things in their cars, and about 28,000 drivers joining the gabfest each day, it is strongly recommended that the conversationalists wear seat belts - and not even think of calling their broker while trying to refold a road map.
Of course, if the distraction doesn't get them, the monthly bill still might.
LENGTH: Short : 43 linesby CNB