EDITORIAL DRIVING DISTRACTIONS CAN MOTHERS AGAINST DUMB DRIVERS BE NEXT?

STUDY after study continues to conclude what people certainly already intuit on their own: Using a cell phone while driving is a distraction. And distractions equal a road safety hazard.

A new study, however, takes this truism to a questionable point by suggesting that driving while talking (on a cell phone) is more dangerous than driving while drunk.

The study generated a lot of excitement, but it relied on a sample of only 40 people in Utah who were driving on a simulator while talking on a phone, some driving with the legal limit of alcohol in their body, and some driving without either.

This small a study is hardly conclusive, and considering that having the legal limit of alcohol in one's body hardly guarantees drunkenness, it verges on irresponsible and alarmist.

Still, anything that distracts a driver's attention from driving is a hazard. As such, it is appropriate that society consider and debate whether using a phone behind the wheel should be banned or regulated.

A bill pending in the California Legislature, SB 1613, that would prohibit using a cell phone while driving unless it's hooked up to a hands-free device, is a good place to start.