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Survey: Outlaw Cell Phone Use While Driving

May 29, 2006

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Most people would support a state law that makes it illegal to use a cell phone while driving, according to a new University of Michigan study.

Sixty-five percent of the respondents said state governments should pass laws banning driving and cell phone use, while only 29 percent said they did not want such a law.

In addition, 88 percent said that a police officer should note if a driver was using a cell phone when an accident occurred.

The findings are in a report that studied public attitudes toward cell phones and other information technology devices in the United States. Survey interviews were conducted by telephone March 3-10, 2005, among a sample of 849 American adults. The survey showed that 69 percent own a cell phone.

Sixty percent of respondents preferred to maintain a ban on cell phone use in airplanes, while 26 percent supported lifting the ban.

Cell phone owners and non-owners were equally likely to say they preferred to "keep the ban." The study also noted that the number of technologies owned did not affect attitude toward this regulation.

"The concern about cell phone use in planes may relate to the fact that it is an enclosed space and people can't walk away from loud conversations in a way they can on land," said the study's author Michael Traugott, a professor in the Department of Communications Studies and senior research professor at the Institute for Social Research.

While 60 percent said that public use of cell phones disturbed or irritated them, this didn't translate into a sentiment toward passing laws to prohibit the practice in places such as restaurants, movies or museums.

In fact, only 43 percent said there should be a law that prohibits talking on a cell phone in public places, while 52 percent did not think so.

"The support for the use of cell phones in public places, despite the irritation, comes primarily from cell phone owners," Traugott said. "They seem reluctant to impose restraints on their own behavior."

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