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More Drivers Talking On Cell Phones

December 19, 2005

• California Motorists Cope With New Hands-Free Law • More Teens Using Cell Phones While Driving • Drivers Impaired Just by Listening to Cell Phone • Driving While Phoning Gums Up Traffic, Study Finds • Study: Drivers Using Cell Phones As Bad As Drunks • Survey: Outlaw Cell Phone Use While Driving • Cell Phone No. 1 Driver Distraction • More Drivers Talking While Driving • Listening, Talking, Driving Don't Mix • Poll Finds Motorists Irked At Other Drivers • Crash Risk Four Times Higher When Driver is On the Phone • Cell-Phoning Drivers Get Failing Grade from Johns Hopkins • Study: Eight Percent of Drivers Are On the Phone • Feds Say Hands-Free Cell Phone Ineffective • Hands-Free Phones Safer, Study Finds • Make a Call, Get a Ticket --- Cell Phone Hazards • Study Finds Little Short-Term Cell Phone Health Risk • Cell Phones Linked to Bee Decline • Mayo Clinic Finds Cell Phones Safe in Hospitals • Origin of California Cell Phone Fire Disputed • Cell Phone Ignites, California Man Severely Burned • Study: Cell Phone Users Have Lower Sperm Counts • Study: Drivers Using Cell Phones As Bad As Drunks • Doctors Warn Against Cell Phone Use In Storms • Cell Phones Cleared in Gas Fire • Sleep With Your Cell Phone? Don't Forget the Dog • Feds Warn of Cell Phone Battery Hazards • Risk of Cell Phone Explosions Growing • Cell Phone Catches Fire • Battery Recall • Traffic Tickets • Gasoline Fires • Radiation Fears --- • Consumer Complaints

The number of drivers talking on a cell phone at any given daylight moment continued to increase in 2005, according to the latest research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The number of cell phone uses behind the wheel is an estimated 1.5 million, with women and young people the most likely to be driving and talking.

About 10 percent of those on the road during the day are using cell phones, up from 8 percent last year, according to the data.

Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia have passed laws against talking on hand-held cell phones while driving. The report is likely to intensify the debate over whether drivers should be limited in their use of cell phones on the nation’s highways.

As cell phones have become more common, safety advocates has pushed for laws to control them in automobiles, but the industry has resisted many of these controls. Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma and Oregon have laws that prevent local governments from restricting cell phone use in vehicles.

Industry officials say it's unfair to single out cell phones as an automotive distraction. They say drivers are just as likely to be distracted by eating food, pushing buttons on the radio, applying make up or engaging in conversation with other passengers in the vehicle.

NHTSA recommends that motorists use cell phones while driving only during an emergency.

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