From Deseret News archives:
Salt Lake County may ban in-car use of phones
Prohibition would apply to county employees, officials
The proposal would prohibit employees from talking on any cell phone, whether personal or county-owned, while in a county vehicle. While in their own cars, they would be prohibited from talking on a county-owned cell phone. And they wouldn't be able to conduct county business on any phone in any car.
"There clearly seems to be a growing trend for employers to be liable" for accidents caused when their employees were using cell phones in any of those circumstances, chief administrative officer Doug Willmore said.
The County Council on Tuesday voted to further study the issue for potential action.
"(Cell phone use in cars) is one of those things that has really begun to take hold," Councilman Randy Horiuchi said. "If government doesn't take the lead on this, I think shame on us."
At the council's request, Willmore collected the results of various studies and court cases related to vehicle cell phone usage. Among other things, he found:
• There is little substantive difference between hand-held and hands-free cell phone usage as it relates to distraction of the driver.
• Vehicle crashes account for 24 percent of workplace fatalities, the single highest cause of on-the-job deaths.
• Cell phone users have the same or worse reaction times as drunk drivers.
• One study estimated that 6 percent of U.S. auto accidents can be attributed to cell phone use, causing $43 billion in damage and 2,600 fatalities.
• The number of drivers using cell phones at any given time during the day has increased from 6 percent in 2002 to 8 percent in 2004.
While there is no data available for how many county worker-related accidents are caused by cell phone usage, Mayor Peter Corroon said the proposal is an attempt to be "proactive."
"All we can go on are the statistics," Willmore said. "Surely some of (the drivers involved in accidents) are distracted. . . . The goal is to reduce accidents, not only for the county's benefit but our citizens' benefit."
E-mail: aedwards@desnews.com
