The paper pushers at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), would like to ban all cell phone use in motor vehicles. That includes hands free, hand-held, all of it. But after looking at the collision and fatality statistics, and skimming through the NHTSA’s Dec 2011 report on distracted driving, the thing most likely to accomplish the stated goal of reducing distracted driving injuries and deaths would be to ban passengers altogether, prohibit talking, and then move the legal driving age up to 25.
From the NHTSA Dec 2011 Report exevutive summary key findings.
The most commonly performed potentially distracting behaviors while driving are talking to other passengers in the vehicle (80%) and adjusting the car radio (65%). Other common behaviors include eating/drinking (45%), making/accepting phone calls (40%), interacting with children in the back seat (27%), and using a portable music player (30%).
What is even more amusing is that if you look at the national data, deaths, accidents, and injuries have all declined as cell phone use has increased.