Complain about a product or service

Survey: Outlaw Cell Phone Use While Driving

May 29, 2006

• Federal Agencies Team Up To Combat Distracted Driving • Congress Takes On Distracted Driving Prevention • Obama Administration To Combat Distracted Driving • Survey: U.S. Drivers Say Texting While Driving Should be Banned • New Insight into Cell Phone Use and Driving Distraction • Phonegate: Feds Withheld Data on Cell Phone Dangers • Using A Cellphone? Make Sure to Stand Still • New Jersey Steps Up Cell Phone Law Enforcement • Talking While Walking May Put Kids At Risk • Car Key Jams Teen Drivers' Cell Phones • Feds Withhold Cell Phone Safety Data, Suit Charges • Cell Phone Conversations Distract Drivers, Study Finds • Texting Behind The Wheel Like Driving Drunk Or High • 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

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."

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |