Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Phoning it in

Looks like the city of Philadelphia is trying to catch up to Lower Chichester.

A Philadelphia City Council committee yesterday gave the green light to an ordinance that would ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving in the city. The measure will now go to the full council and could be voted on as early as next week.

The city has nothing on Lower Chi. The Delco township has had a law on its books now for a couple of years outlawing the very same thing.

Lower Chi commissioners have had such a ban on their books since 2003.

No one argues the danger of mixing driving and yakking on a cell phone. Thanks to technology, we can now add texting and surfing the Internet to the distractions our cell-phone addicted society brings with them when they get behind the wheel.

What has always been at issue is if the issue can and should be addressed locally. Most point to state laws that seem to restrict regulations on driving to the state, not local municipalities.

If that’s the case, then maybe it’s time for Harrisburg to do something other than accept another pay raise.

Just about every study and organization we’ve seen are united in the dangers posed by drivers using hand-held cell phones. AAA goes even farther, noting that it’s the conversation that is distracting, leaving open the idea of also targeting hands-free devices.

It’s time to take action to make our increasingly crowded highways a little bit safer. And making sure people are not talking on their phone while behind the wheel would do just that.

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