Here we go!

I noted last week, once The New York Times gets stuck into an issue, it's not long before mountains start to move. The paper has been running a series of articles on the manifest dangers of texting while driving and now federal action appears to be on the horizon.

Four senators have introduced a bill that would give states - it is currently banned in 14 states - two years to outlaw texting while driving or face the loss of 25 percent of their federal highway funds, according to the NYT.

Makes sense - up to a point.

And that point is neatly summed up in a quote in the NYT from Jonathan Adkins, spokesman for the Governor's Highway Safety Association.

The association represents state highway safety agencies in every state and opposes texting while driving, but does not support the proposed legislation. Why?

"We oppose sanctioning states since there is not yet a proven effective method for enforcing a texting or cell phone ban," Adkins told the NYT.

Here, hear!

There is only one way to effectively ban texting and that is to ban hand-held cell phones.

I think the idea of banning all cell phone use in vehicles is preposterous because eveyone has one and it would be impossible to enforce.

And banning texting but allowing hand-held cell phone use would be equally difficult to enforce. The only way someone could be charged with texting would be based on telephone records after the fact, ie: accident.

That has been about the only way law enforcement officials have concluded that a driver involved in an accident was texting at the time. And it was too late.

As I wrote last week, limiting (cell phone) use to hands-free devices through such technology as Bluetooth surely offers an acceptable compromise. Yes, there are dangers associated with such technology, but there are dangers associated with many activities currently taking place in vehicles -- eating, drinking, talking, flirting, disciplining children, attending to personal hygiene, selecting radio stations, changing CDs/iPod selections -- having even one alcoholic drink, let alone 0.08's worth.

The fact is we accept some measure of risk in return for the freedoms associated with such compromises. Thus, it seems to me reasonable to accept the real but lesser dangers of allowing hands-free cell phones.

- Peter C. T. Elsworth