D.C. drivers flout ban on cell phones

The number of tickets issued by D.C. police to drivers using hand-held cell phones has increased since the District banned the behavior more than two years ago, suggesting that motorists are ignoring warnings not to use the devices while on the road.

“There is still a blatant disregard for the law,” said Capt. M.E. Gresham, commander of the Metropolitan Police Department’s traffic safety and special enforcement branch. “I honestly think a lot of people do not take it seriously.”

Last year, officers handed out 8,342 tickets to drivers using cell phones within D.C. limits, a nearly 11 percent increase from the 7,523 citations issued the year before, police statistics show.

Since police began enforcing the District’s hands-free law in the summer of 2004, nearly 19,500 tickets have been issued to drivers for hand-held cell-phone use, including 343 last month.

Each distracted-driving citation carries a $100 fine, but first-time offenders can get the fine suspended by getting a hands-free accessory before a penalty is imposed.

Council member Carol Schwartz, at-large Republican and co-sponsor of the District’s bill, said enforcement in the city has been “awfully lax” but that police also have to prioritize what crimes they pursue.

She also said pedestrians — such as J’Lin Tyler, a 6-year-old struck and killed Feb. 9 by a driver who might have been on a cell phone — are placed in danger by distracted drivers in the densely populated District and that motorists should have the burden placed on them to honor the law.

Capt. Gresham said the Tyler case is still under investigation.

“I see enormous numbers of people talking on their cell phones with one hand, practically hitting you as they turn,” Mrs. Schwartz said. “I want the distracted drivers to take care of this issue themselves.”

According to a report released last year by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, nearly 80 percent of studied crashes were caused by driver inattention, and the most-common distraction for drivers is the use of cell phones.

The number of tickets issued, however, may not completely reflect the ban’s effect in the District.

A study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) published in September showed that hand-held cell-phone use in the District dropped by about 50 percent one year after the city’s ban, compared to the use rates in Maryland and Virginia.

A similar decline was recorded in New York after the state enacted its restrictions in 2001, but the numbers later rose after publicity about the law died down.

“The pattern typically is initial compliance with the law,” said Anne T. McCartt, senior vice president of research at IIHS. “But that’s not sustained over time if drivers don’t believe they’re at risk or there’s a consequence for disobeying the law.”

Restricting cell-phone use in vehicles has been a growing trend among state legislatures as the number of subscribers to wireless services also has swelled to nearly 233 million, according to CTIA-The Wireless Association.

Story Continues →