National Conference of State Legislatures interview

Matt Sundeen
Program Principal, Transportation
National Conference of State Legislatures
7700 East First Place
Denver, CO 80230
Phone: (303) 364-7700, ext. 1539
Fax: (303) 364-7800
matt.sundeen@ncsl.org

interviewed August 29, 2007 by Whitney Coleman

NCSL is…
50 state legislatures, bipartisan organization, come at it as neutrals, provide info to members about issues states are working on. He works in transportation program.

Cell phones while driving
In the last five to 10 years it’s really grown as an issue. 10 to15 years ago very few people had cell phones, the phones they had were shoebox size devices that didn’t do much. We didn’t have much legislation on this topic. In the last five to 60 years we’ve seen a real growth in the technology available to people and corresponding legislation relating to that.

Currency of data?
I wrote the report to summarize activity through the last year. A lot has happened this year. Washington state passed prohibition on handheld phone while driving and specifically on texting while driving. Nine states passed new laws this year: Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas, (related to TV in car), Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. Seven were specific to cell phones and two to general driver distractions.

Oklahoma
We’ve seen the data from Oklahoma. Senator Johnson presented a bill which would have prohibited cell phones while driving. I’d assume it’s dead now.

What inspires legislation?
A lot of the legislation that’s been proposed has a connector. There’s usually a reason why legislators are proposing bills. Certainly we see more phone calls here after an incident. Clearly phones are now part of the driving environment. It’s pretty common to see someone with their phone on their ear. If that person sees poor driving, they react accordingly. Legislatures are people too. They react to seeing that as they drive. We’re starting to see more studies come out also.

What is the reluctance to address cell phones?
There’s reasons why legislation might fail. Some of the thought is that there’s not really a consensus on the issue yet. It’s not like drunk driving or seatbelts where there was a consensus on the tropic. We don’t have a lot of statistical data, not all states are collecting data. At the same time, cell phones are not like drunk drivers. A lot of people find value to having a cell phone in their car. Certain legislators even use cell phones while driving.

“They are reluctant to take away what’s valuable to people when they don’t have data to support it yet. I think everyone agrees that it’s distracting, but do they agree that it’s distracting enough to warrant legislation?”

Future of issue
Clearly it’s an issue that’s here to stay. We’re just seeing a tremendous growth in the amount of technology that’s going into the car. Where now you have phones, the iphone that allows you to surf the web freely. It’s something that’s expanding into the driving environment. As that expands, you will see more legislators react to it. It’s difficult to predict how many states will pass laws prohibiting use of cell phones, but certainly we will see a lot of legislation considered over the next couple of years.