Could cell phones someday be banned from cars altogether?
Oregon Police Chief Doug Pettit is also chair of the legislative committee for the Wisconsin Police Chiefs Association. He says the texting ban is a “good first step.”
“I think that the dialog and keeping this conversation going about distracted driving should go a lot farther than this, in my opinion.”
Governor Doyle last week signed the texting while driving ban (AB-496) into law. He says, though, he’d like to take it a step further.
“If I could just declare a law, I think we are better going to hands-free.”
Pettit agrees that using only hands-free phones would be better, but if he could declare a law, he’d outlaw cell phones in vehicles altogether — hands free or otherwise.
“Sometimes you’ve got to take baby steps before you can run. I think, as I’ve said, this is a good first step. I think that hands-free would be another step. Quite frankly, banning cell phone use while driving would be the ultimate, in my opinion.”
After all, the phone itself — an inanimate object — isn’t the distraction; Pettit says it’s the distracting conversation that takes a motorist’s attention away from driving. The texting ban takes effect December first.
Jackie Johnson report 1:24
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