A recent (and thorough) NY Times article “Drivers and Legislators Dismiss Cellphone Risks” got me thinking about the ways of us peculiar Americans. The articles cites many a study that links cellphone use to distracted driving. But, I, at least, don’t think we need any fancy study to prove that. Unless you’re some kind of master multi-tasker (and you probably aren’t) I’m willing to say that talking on a cell phone while driving diminishes your ability to concentrate while driving. You can check the article for some studies, but I actually take that as a commonsense given.  Talking takes thought, so less thought it given to driving.

So the more interesting question becomes: why do we still talk on cell phones while driving? If we know (at least intuitively) it’s less safe, why do it?

In Scotland, it’s illegal to talk on a cell phone (or “mobile phone” there ) while driving unless one uses a hands free device. This is a national law. It’s a small sensible country — which loves their phones, by the way — and there’s been several fatalities over the years committed by people chatting or texting while driving. So, it’s illegal. That makes sense, after all.  And I think it’s pretty big illegal (there was some story while I was there of a politician getting stopped for talking on his phone while driving and it was a huge embarrassment).

But in the US, while some local laws make it illegal to speak without a handsfree device, most state legislatures are hesitant to address the issue. And there’s certainly no big anti-cellphone movement to speak of.

So we know it’s unsafe. We know it kills people. We realize it’s far from a best practice. And we — well, most folks I know — still speak on phones while driving.

I wonder, then, if it comes down to an interesting question of practical ethics. Does the short-term convenience of speaking on a cell phone outweigh the relatively small risk we’ll injure someone while doing it? Is it a perception thing: everyone does it, so it must not be too bad. Is it a living-on-the-edge thing: I know this is wrong, but it’s handy and it sorta feels fun to be dangerous. Is it just a failure of leadership: nobody on the national stage is loudly leading the anti-cellphone charge. Or is it just that we can’t quite claim our better moral selves and not pick-up a ringing phone?

I don’t know, but it’s something I totally wrestle with myself. So, what do you think?  It is immoral to talk on a phone while driving?  Or to put another slant on it: is it sinful?  You make the call.

image by Dragan Sasic

Update (a few more pertinent articles):

Mareen Dowd’s “Whirling Dervish Driver“

Matt Richtel “U.S. Withheld Data on Risks of Distracted Driving“