Feds Push NY Towards Full Ban On Electronic Devices In Cars

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Citing New York’s leadership in banning hand-held cell phone use in cars, NTSB Vice Chairman Christopher Hart urged the Empire State to become the first to ban all use of personal electronic devices while driving. Though careful to call it a state issue, Hart did hint that state compliance with forthcoming NTSB recommendations could be tied to federal highway funds (he has separately called for a national ban).

And indeed, New York’s legislators seemed to see the issue of distraction as an issue for federal action (but then, why not make the feds pay for it?). At the same time, everyone understands that the problem is near-ubiquitous and any full ban on personal device use in cars would be near-impossible to enforce (short of Assemblyman McDonough’s suggestion that automakers equip cars with cell-phone signal blockers)… which raises huge questions about federal-level action.


Hart says enforcement will be a major topic of an NTSB forum, scheduled for March 27 (note: the forum is not yet listed on the NTSB’s events page). With the NTSB pushing hard on what was once largely a rhetorical issue, goading the notoriously-nannying New York government towards a full ban on in-car device use, this forum should be a good measure of the feds’ resolve.

After all, everyone knows that distracted driving is wrong (with the possible exception of automakers, who load ever more distractions into their cars)… it’s just a question of how much government intrusion would be necessary to stop it. If Ray LaHood’s minions go for broke and pursue an enforcement rather than an education approach at their forum (as they did with their NY pilot program), this debate could blow up into pitched political warfare overnight.

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Number6 Number6 on Feb 15, 2012

    All right. The seemingly obvious needs to be asked. Phone with GPS indicating a speed over 5 MPH. Disable texting, email, apps, etc. This ain't rocket science...not any more. No hands-free? Fine. No calls either. Now here is the tricky part...actually PULL OVER the remanining people still using phones and driving... Yeah, not every cell has GPS but eventually they all will. So it's a start. NHTSA had enough of a hard-on for ignorance to force the entire country to buy into that silly TPMS nonsense. Why not press the cell phone vendors to put a software interlock? The answer is obvious...it doesn't generate revenue...

    • See 1 previous
    • Number6 Number6 on Feb 16, 2012

      @NulloModo Supporting TPMS but taking issue with a passenger being blocked from sending texts is contradictory. TPMS is a monumental waste of money. Now if I bought a car in winter and ran snows, my car would fail an annual inspection because the TPMS is showing an error (the snow-rims I bought don't have sensors). So i either run illegally with an expired sticker, or put my low-profile baloney-skins on snowy roads, drive (if that's the right word) around to clear the error code, get inspected, then take the low-profiles off and reinstall my snows. Given the unending roadblocks to shake people down for inspection stickers these days, a $185 ticket is likely. In my case, this very issue happened. The extra four sensors, plus the "recal" to re-initialize the TPMS at the dealer costs more than the ticket. And I would need to do the "recal" twice a year to keep the code from being thrown. All so my car can tell me to inflate my tires on a cold day. Now we all know the real reason for TPMS, but the "official" reason they did it was to prevent accidents. Just like driving and texting, isn't it?

  • Ciddyguy Ciddyguy on Feb 15, 2012

    Washington State has a hands free law whereby you must use an ear piece or a speakerphone device in your car if you are going to talk on the phone. Many new cars built in the past couple of years now offer integrated Bluetooth speakerphone systems as standard that also allow you to use voice commands to control your music as well and all you have to do is press the VR button on your steering wheel to activate the voice command or the hook button to hang up or pickup a call. Even the aftermarket manufacturers have gotten in on the act with Bluetooth add ons or simply integrating the BT technology into their head units and I'm researching these types right now to replace an older Alpine unit in my Mazda that is HD and Sat radio ready but doesn't include the modules for them but has the iPod controller cable though. I want to get a DECENT unit that will have the BT integrated into the head unit (Alpine and several other manufacturers now offer such units) whereby no module is required, it's simply a chip mounted on the circuit board inside the unit and all you have to do is plug in the mike and it's ready to go. It's not that I talk on the phone a lot while driving, but it comes in handy when someone called to ask a question or I need to make a quick call while on the road and currently have a portable BT speakerphone unit from Motorola and it works fine, most of the time but not always without some issues with the voice commands and it clips to your visor. It does the job, for now though. And there are plenty of these portable and built in units, from manufactures like Parrot that make speaker phones that can work on their own as simple speakerphones or can pipe the phone's audio to one's stereo, usually through an FM transmitter or similar. Mine is a basic unit and those can go for $30-70 range, the more fancy units and the built in ones are more than that though. But sadly, even with the simple corded ear buds that come with virtually all phones, I still see people holding the damned phone to their ear while driving. Monday morning, I was walking across a crosswalk on the campus at work while an employee, a woman in a huge white SUV barely stopped at the stopped sign and kept rolling into the crosswalk while I was walking across before realizing she needed to stop, inches in front of me and looked embarrassed and had her damned phone planted to her right ear and the SUV wasn't that old for crying out loud. I saw one young driver a couple of years ago, at the last minute in a later model Civic cut across 3 lanes of traffic, barely missing an older Sentra (late 80's vintage at that), forcing it to lock the brakes to avoid him and barely made the NB exit off of I-90 onto Rainier Ave in front of me and when I caught up to him, he was texting or simply looking at his cell phone, which was in his hand. I so wanted to punch his lights out for nearly causing an accident back there.

  • Type57SC Type57SC on Feb 16, 2012

    I feel that I can handle a cell phone at acceptable risk, especially on bluetooth where my eyes and hands aren't occupied. Cell phone distraction has nothing on a crying or excited baby/toddler though. I can't operate a stapler when more than one get into the act. Driving with kids feels dangerous and gives me that "i'm just a little lucky to have made it" feeling when I arrive somewhere after a meltdown en route.

  • Redav Redav on Feb 16, 2012

    If the NTSB is serious about this, shouldn't they be leveraging all the applicable players (car manufacturers, cell phone makers/providers)? I could very easily see tech that works between car & phone to deactivate a driver's phone while the vehicle is in motion. Engineering controls are more effective than administrative controls.

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