July 19, 2000

Cell phone use when driving must stop

One of the main driver distraction devices drawing the attention of officials at a Washington hearing Monday was the cellular phone.

It's high time something more than a hearing was done about people yakking on phones while driving.

It may not be the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that does something about the problem, but some entity needs to do so.

In the case of protecting people on the roads of Ohio, it should be the General Assembly.

A state with legislators who can require seat belts and child safety restraints on its roads certainly should have senators and representatives with enough gumption to ban phoning while driving.

It wouldn't be innovative. California, Florida and Massachusetts have laws limiting cell phone usage in moving vehicles.

It doesn't take a scientific study to determine that someone talking on a phone is paying less than full attention to driving.

Our legislators should act &emdash; soon &emdash; to deal with this safety issue.