Selling the Cell Phone Ban

I see Steven Joyce has put the proposed ban on cell phones back on the menu. Of course, his proposal is that hand-held cell phones should be banned but that hands-free kits are okay. This is despite there being good evidence that hands-free kits are just as distracting and picking up your cell phone. It is not the one-handed driving that is the problem (how many of us drive down the freeway with only one hand on the steering wheel, anyway?) It is the simple fact that the conversation is taking place that is distracting. Apparently, a passenger will tend to pace their conversation so that you are not distracted at critical moments. A cell phone, of course, will not.

What this means is that a ban, to be useful, must be a ban on all cell phone use in a moving vehicle. Any half-way measure is a pointless waste of time. The only viable options are no ban and complete ban. This is one of the few proposed bans I am in favour of. The use of cell phones in cars puts other people at risk besides the user and the benefit of using a cell phone in a car is quite low for most people. It is a small impingement on individual freedom with significant safety benefits. This is not the same equation as, say, banning incandescent bulbs where the gain of the ban is nebulous and the exercise of the freedom has little or no impact on others. Banning cell phone use has a benefit ratio much closer to the drink-driving ban.

Not that I expect Steven Joyce to listen to the evidence. Politically, he can get away with banning hand-held cell phones with just a little “nanny state” heckling from the opposition. Banning cell phones altogether is likely to produce a much larger reaction from the public and is therefore much riskier. Seeing as National seem determined to make as few waves as possible in their first term in office, I suspect Joyce is going to go ahead with this silly piece of legislation.

Won’t be the first. Won’t be the last.

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