VIRGINIA BEACH – Startling new research on distracted driving could boost a Norfolk lawmaker’s effort to ban cell phone use while driving for all Virginians, not just drivers under age 18.
The U.S. Dept. of Transportation study shows that at any given time 11 percent of drivers are on a cell phone and half with hands-free devices and half without.
"When you're on the highway, a vehicle is a large thing. It's a killer," says Del. Algie Howell (D-90th D).
Authorities say it killed Joan Skupien of Suffolk, who lost control of her Mercedes as she talked on her cell phone. The vehicle slammed into a tree and the impact crushed the top of her car.
She left behind a husband and young son.
Del. Howell says that case and others like it are why he keeps introducing bills to end cell phone use while driving.
"You are distracted. You might not want to admit it, but you are distracted. You are not putting 100 percent of your time or attention to driving," he says.
Howell's proposals never pass, but he has high hopes for the upcoming session of the General Assembly.
The Va. Dept. of Motor Vehicles now tracks cell phone-related crashes. So far this year, 1,628 – more than four a day -- were caused by cell phone use.
Three days before Skupien was killed, Joshua Lovelace’s vehicle careened into a ditch and struck the same tree. The 26-year-old’s young son died and the boy’s mother was critically injured, according to police.
Lovelace was apparently distracted behind the wheel, but not by a cell phone. Driver fatigue caused the deadly crash. It’s one of three other driver distractions that cause more crashes than cell phones.
In Virginia, the top five distraction-related crash causes are eyes not on the road, driver fatigue, looking at a roadside incident, or rubbernecking, cell phones and passengers.
"Rear end collisions are on the rise and one of the hallmarks of rear end collisions is a distraction," says Mary Ann Rayment with the Va. Department of Motor Vehicles.
Watching a busy intersection in Va. Beach recently, Rayment spotted drivers with one hand on the wheel while the other held food or the driver was texting.
Del. Howell remains focused on the cell phone. His bill would make Virginia the seventh state to ban talking on the phone while driving.
"I'm optimistic that maybe this year it will get out of committee," he says. "Your grandfather and his grandfather didn't use a cell phone and they survived. There's no call that you gonna get while you're going to drive that's so important you can't pull over to the side and stop."
Last year, the General Assembly passed a driving while texting ban that Howell co-sponsored.
TOP 10 Driver Distractions (Va. DMV 2009)
1. Eyes not on road
2. Driver fatigue
3. Looking at roadside incident
4. Cell phone use
5. Passengers
6. Daydreaming
7. Radio/CD, etc.
8. Looking at scenery
9. (tie) Adjusting vehicle controls
Eating/drinking
