A 19-year-old driver was charged this week under Maine’s new distracted-driving law after crashing her car into a telephone while allegedly texting on her cell phone.

Along with New Hampshire and Utah, Maine has perhaps one of the most wide-ranging distracted driving laws on the books. It makes it illegal for drivers to commit a moving violation or crash when distracted. What makes these laws unique is that they don’t specify the distraction; it can be from talking on a phone, texting, or non-electronic distractions that aren’t related to driving.

One of the biggest take-aways from last week’s Distracted Driving Summit is that there simply isn’t one “silver bullet” to solve the problem. For example, technology can be created that would block cell phone use in a moving car, but given the public uproar that erupted over seatbelt interlocks in the 1970s, acceptance could be a problem.

The parallel between the increase in safety belt acceptance and use since the 1980s offers other lessons for fighting distracted driving. Legislation mandating wearing safety belt use became widespread. But education and a general shift in public attitudes also played a big role. At some point, for many people it just became “wrong” to drive without a safety belt. The same needs to happen for cell phone use and texting--drivers need to accept that it poses a hazard and willingly stay off the phone.

To sum up the summit:

It will take a mix of technology, legislation, and education to combat this issue.

Teen drivers pose a great risk. They are the least experienced drivers, have the worst judgment, and have texting ingrained in their culture, often since before they started driving.

We’ve barely touched the surface of the potential distraction. Technology is likely to move quicker than laws or public opinion. After all, connected devices are here today and built-in Internet connectivity is on the horizon.

Summing up the research, it is simply safest to stay off the phone. Hands-free headsets offer little help, since you still wind up fussing with the phone. Integrated phone systems reduce the risk in some studies, while other studies emphasize the mental workload of the conversation.

Texting is a “perfect storm,” and represents a universe all its own when it comes to risk.

—Tom Mutchler

For more information on distracted driving see our related reports:
Choosing words wisely in the distracted driving discussion
Distracted Driving Summit: The hands-free debate
Defining the problem: Casting a wide net over driver distraction
Automakers agree to ban
Anti-texting video to scare drivers straight
Using wireless communication devices while driving
Cell phone use and driving laws
Dangers of cell phones while driving
Should cell phone use by drivers be illegal?