Distracted driving has long been pointed to as one of the major causes for America’s high traffic fatality rates; more than 3,000 traffic deaths in 2010 are attributed to the problem. Citing these stats, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended a nationwide ban on cell phone usage and texting while driving. Due to lax enforcement of existing statues and a high fatality rate, the state of Missouri was singled out in the recommendation.

In making the case for such sweeping regulations, the NTSB’s Robert Sumwalt compared distracted driving to alcohol impairment.  “This is becoming the new DUI. It’s becoming epidemic”. That’s something of an exaggeration – in 2009, the total number of alcohol related traffic fatalities was 10,839. But 3,000 people is still far more than should be dying for something as meaningless as checking on a Words With Friends game. The recommendation of a total ban is non-binding, and laws governing cell phone use vary considerably from state to state. While 30 states ban cell phone use by inexperienced drivers and another 35 ban texting, only 10 have laws strict enough to meet today’s recommendation.

If the states heed this advice, the ban would apply to everything except for emergency calls, and would apply equally to hands-free phone accessories as well as to standard phone-in-hand use. Built-in cell phone systems like a bluetooth car stereo installation would not be affected. The full recommendation is available on the official NTSB site.

SOURCE via CNN